SEDIMENT-ASSOCIATED POLLUTANTS IN THE MARINE ENVIRONMENT: A MULTI-BIOMARKER APPROACH FOR ASSESSING SEDIMENT TOXICITY IN TURBOT

• Main Authors: Sheehan D, Van Pelt, O’brien N. M
• Other Authors: The Pennsylvania State University CiteSeerX Archives
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Subjects: Turbot
• Online Access: http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.494.2418; http://www-heb.pac.dfo-mpo.gc.ca/congress/2002/toxicol/kilemade.pdf

Sediments in the aquatic environment have become an area of concern due to their potential for accumulating toxic compounds and acting as a secondary pollutant source to benthic fauna. Owing to their predominantly benthic life style, fish of the order Pleuronectiformes (flatfish) are particularly vulnerable to sediment-associated pollutants. This and the relative ease of obtaining specimens, from either commercial hatcheries or local estuaries, makes them the preferred choice for studying sediment-water-organism interactions in benthic fish (Courtney et al., 1980; Hartl et al., 2001). Here we report on the first phase of an ongoing project applying a multi-biomarker approach to the toxicity of field-collected sediments from a polluted estuary to juvenile turbot (Scrophthalmus maximus, L.). Laboratory experiments using fish exposed to spiked sediments have been instrumental in establishing 39 biomarkers for single compounds. The aim of the present study was to determine a suite of biomarkers, in combination with chemical and statistical