Avoidance threshold to oil water-soluble fraction by a juvenile marine teleost fish

• Published in: Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry
• Main Authors: Claireaux, Guy, Queau, Pierre, Marras, Stefano, Le Floch, Stephane, Farrell, Anthony P., Nicolas-Kopec, Annabelle, Lemaire, Philippe, Domenici, Paolo
• Other Authors: Laboratoire des Sciences de l'Environnement Marin (LEMAR) (LEMAR), Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD)-Institut Français de Recherche pour l'Exploitation de la Mer (IFREMER)-Université de Brest (UBO)-Institut Universitaire Européen de la Mer (IUEM), Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Université de Brest (UBO)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Université de Brest (UBO)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Institut Français de Recherche pour l'Exploitation de la Mer - Brest (IFREMER Centre de Bretagne), Institut Français de Recherche pour l'Exploitation de la Mer (IFREMER), CNR Institute for Coastal Marine Environment (IAMC), Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche (CNR), Centre de documentation de recherche et d'expérimentations sur les pollutions accidentelles des eaux (Cedre), Cedre, University of British Columbia (UBC)
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: HAL CCSD 2018
• Subjects: ACL; Fish; Behavior; atlantic cod; rainbow-trout; mullet liza-aurata; exposure; responses; aromatic-hydrocarbons; Avoidance reaction; dispersed crude-oil; Oil; salmon; spatial position; Water-soluble fraction; WSF; envir; scipo
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.1002/etc.4019; https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-02619269/file/Claireaux_etal_ETaC_2018.pdf; https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-02619269

WOS:000426158000022 International audience When oil spills occur, behavior is the first line of defense for a fish to avoid being contaminated. We determined the avoidance threshold of the European seabass (Dicentrarchus labrax) to the water-soluble fraction (WSF) of oil using a dual-flow choice box. The results showed that a plume of 20%-diluted WSF (total polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon [PAH] concentration: 8.54gL(-1)) triggered a significant avoidance response that was detected within 7.5min of introducing WSF-contaminated water into the experimental setup. However, the ecological relevance of seabass capacity to detect and avoid WSF remains to be established. In the short term, such a response is indeed liable to reduce seabass contact time with oil-contaminated water and thus preserve their functional integrity. In the long term, however, avoidance may contribute to the displacement of a population into a possibly less auspicious environment, with consequences very similar to those of contaminant exposure, that is, disturbed population dynamics and demography.