Premium
Sensitivity of Alaskan Freshwater and Anadromous Fishes to Prudhoe Bay Crude Oil and Benzene
Author(s) -
Moles Adam,
Rice Stanley D.,
Korn Sid
Publication year - 1979
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(1979)108<408:soafaa>2.0.co;2
Subject(s) - liter , seawater , bay , crude oil , artificial seawater , fresh water , biology , fish migration , benzene , chemistry , environmental chemistry , zoology , fishery , ecology , fish <actinopterygii> , oceanography , geology , organic chemistry , endocrinology , petroleum engineering
The sensitivity of various species and life stages of Alaskan freshwater and anadromous fishes to benzene and the water‐soluble fraction of Prudhoe Bay crude oil was determined with 96‐hour toxicity tests. Freshwater juveniles of the six salmonid species tested had similar sensitivities. Median tolerance limits (TLmˈs) of these salmonids for crude oil ranged from 2.7 to 4.4 mg/liter; TLmˈs of benzene ranged from 11.7 to 14.7 μl/liter. Threespine sticklebacks and, to a lesser extent, slimy sculpins were more tolerant than salmonids and had larger TLmˈs: Threespine sticklebacks had a crude‐oil TLm of 10.4 mg/liter and a benzene TLm of 24.8 μl/liter; slimy sculpins had a crude‐oil TLm of 6.44 mg/liter and a benzene TLm of 15.4 μl/liter. Eggs of pink salmon and coho salmon were quite tolerant to crude oil (TLm > 12 mg/liter) and benzene (TLm = 339–542 μl/liter). Emergent fry were the most sensitive freshwater stage (crude‐oil TLm = 8.0 mg/liter; benzene TLm = 12.3–17.1 μl/liter). Out‐migrant salmonids tested in seawater were twice as sensitive as out‐migrant salmonids tested in fresh water, apparently because of the additional stress of entering seawater and the physiological changes associated with this transition. Freshwater TLmˈs were 2.3–8.0 mg/liter for crude oil and 10.8–17.1 μl/liter for benzene. Corresponding seawater sensitivities were 1.1–3.6 mg/liter for crude oil and 5.5–8.5 μl/liter for benzene.