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An Autopsy Technique for Zinc‐caused Fish Mortality
Author(s) -
Mount Donald I.
Publication year - 1964
Publication title -
transactions of the american fisheries society
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.696
H-Index - 86
eISSN - 1548-8659
pISSN - 0002-8487
DOI - 10.1577/1548-8659(1964)93[174:aatfzf]2.0.co;2
Subject(s) - gill , zinc , cyprinus , biology , fish <actinopterygii> , common carp , carp , zinc toxicity , toxicology , physiology , zoology , fishery , chemistry , organic chemistry
An autopsy method for acute zinc toxicity in fish has been developed. The method is based on the accumulation of zinc in the gills that precedes death due to acute exposure to zinc in the water. Thirty‐ to 90‐day exposures to sublethal concentrations of zinc in water indicated that the opercular bone accumulates zinc at approximately the same rate as the gill tissue (including rakers and arch) but the operculum does not accumulate zinc as the gill does in acutely toxic exposures. By using the ratio of zinc in the gill to zinc in the bone (gill/bone ratio), a reasonably constant value is obtained for nonlethal exposures and for fish collected in the field. This value increases up to a hundredfold in acute exposures. Experimental exposures on five species of fish were made and the fish autopsied. Field samples of more than 1,000 fish of 22 species were analyzed and the data given. There is almost no overlap between the gill/bone ratios of normal fish from the field and experimental fish killed by zinc. One species, carp (Cyprinus carpio), could not be autopsied by examination of a few specimens. This method seems to be specific for zinc mortality, is not affected by small amounts of other toxicants or by disease, can be performed on partially decomposed fish, and does not necessitate the immediate removal of fish from the contaminated water.