Toxicity of Refugio Beach Oil to Sand Crabs (Emerita analoga), Blue Mussels (Mytilus sp.), and Inland Silversides (Menidia beryllina)

Abstract

Monterey formation crude oil spilled from an onshore pipeline and entered the surf zone near Refugio State Beach, Santa Barbara County, California (USA) on 19 May 2015. During this season, early life stages of many marine fish and invertebrates were present. Surf zone water and beach porewater samples were collected during the 4 mo after the spill and 2 yr later for chemical analyses. Elevated polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) and total petroleum hydrocarbon concentrations were observed in surf zone water and porewater near the release point, declining with distance and time. Early life stage toxicity was investigated by conducting 6‐ and 7‐d static renewal bioassays with sand crab (Emerita analoga) post larvae (megalopae) and inland silverside larvae (Menidia beryllina), respectively, and a 48‐h blue mussel (Mytilus sp.) embryo development bioassay. Dilutions of a high‐energy water accommodated fraction of the Refugio Beach oil and a seawater control were prepared to simulate surf zone PAH concentrations (nominal PAH45; 0, 0.5, 1, 5, 10, 50, 100, and 500 µg/L). The PAH45 median lethal concentrations (LC50s), based on measured concentrations, were 381 µg/L for Mytilus sp., 75.6 µg/L for Menidia, and 40.9 µg/L for Emerita. Our results suggest that PAH concentrations in coastal waters of the spill‐affected area were potentially lethal to early life stages of fish and invertebrates. Environ Toxicol Chem 2021;40:2578–2586. © 2021 SETAC

Biological Responses of Pacific Herring Embryos to Crude Oil Are Quantifiable at Exposure Levels Below Conventional Limits of Quantitation for PAHs in Water and Tissues

“…Despite these major leaps forward in understanding how fish early life stages respond to spilled oil, the exposure dimension of natural resource injury assessments has changed very little over the past 30 years. In the early 1990s, environmental levels of PAHs in Prince William Sound water, sediments, and organismal tissues were typically quantified by gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (GC/MS). ,− Similar methods were used to characterize exposure following more recent spills, with examples including the 2002 Prestige spill in Spain, the 2007 Hebei Spirit spill in South Korea, the 2010 Deepwater Horizon disaster in the Gulf of Mexico, , and the 2015 Refugio Beach spill in Southern California . In the present study, we explore whether these conventional analytical methods for PAHs and other petroleum-derived compounds are sufficiently sensitive to determine thresholds for injury in fish, particularly “damage” predicated on novel forms of developmental cardiotoxicity including fitness losses that are delayed-in-time.…”

“…2,17−19 Similar methods were used to characterize exposure following more recent spills, with examples including the 2002 Prestige spill in Spain, 20 the 2007 Hebei Spirit spill in South Korea, 11 the 2010 Deepwater Horizon disaster in the Gulf of Mexico, 10,12 and the 2015 Refugio Beach spill in Southern California. 21 In the present study, we explore whether these conventional analytical methods for PAHs and other petroleum-derived compounds are sufficiently sensitive to determine thresholds for injury in fish, particularly "damage" predicated on novel forms of developmental cardiotoxicity including fitness losses that are delayed-in-time.…”