Fish health and environmental health.

Surveys conducted to evaluate the health of marine-bottom fishes have been conducted in the eastern and western North Atlantic for the past 15 years, usually in conjunction with fish stock assessment cruises. The health of the fish sampled was evaluated using certain integumental and skeletal lesion...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Murchelano, R A
Format: Text
Language:English
Published: 1990
Subjects:
Online Access:http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1567750
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/2401261
Description
Summary:Surveys conducted to evaluate the health of marine-bottom fishes have been conducted in the eastern and western North Atlantic for the past 15 years, usually in conjunction with fish stock assessment cruises. The health of the fish sampled was evaluated using certain integumental and skeletal lesions and anomalies as markers to signify compromised health status. The results of these surveys indicate that fish health is poorer in coastal waters that have been anthropogenically degraded. Monitoring programs to determine the status and trends in levels of inorganic and organic contaminants in fish tissue and sediments have disclosed high levels of chemical contaminants in several coastal areas of the northeastern United States. Histopathological examinations of liver tissues of winter flounder, Pseudopleuronectes americanus, from Boston Harbor, one of the more chemically contaminated sites, has revealed a high prevalence of hepatocarcinoma.