Premium
Use of Fish Ventilation Frequency to Estimate Chronically Safe Toxicant Concentrations
Author(s) -
Cairns Michael A.,
Garton Ronald R.,
Tubb Richard A.
Publication year - 1982
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(1982)111<70:uofvft>2.0.co;2
Subject(s) - toxicant , fish <actinopterygii> , ventilation (architecture) , environmental science , biology , toxicology , fishery , medicine , geography , toxicity , meteorology
A 96‐hour toxicity test with fish ventilation frequency as the response variable was developed to estimate safe zinc concentrations for steelhead Salmo gairdneri. Two Oregon steelhead strains were exposed to zinc at different water temperatures and total hardnesses (7, 12, and 17 C; 25 and 125 mg/liter as CaCO 3 ). Ventilation frequencies enumerated from bioelectric potentials generated by buccal and opercular openings and closings showed significant increases at the highest test concentration in five of 10 tests. At 12 C and 25 mg/liter hardness, responses were detected at a zinc concentration of 144 μg/liter; the “safe” concentration determined in a chronic exposure of embryos and juveniles was between 444 and 819 μg zinc/liter. This indicates that ventilation‐frequency tests are at least as sensitive as long‐term toxicity tests and may be used to screen chemicals for potential harmful effects on fish.