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Dietary Toxicity of Selenium‐Contaminated Red Shiners to Striped Bass
Author(s) -
Coughlan David J.,
Velte John S.
Publication year - 1989
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(1989)118<0400:dtosrs>2.3.co;2
Subject(s) - selenium , bass (fish) , biology , zoology , body weight , toxicity , notropis , fishery , fish <actinopterygii> , anatomy , chemistry , endocrinology , organic chemistry
Red shiners Notropis lutrensis (weight, about 1 g each) from the selenium‐affected areas of Belews Lake, North Carolina, a cooling reservoir for an electric power plant, were fed to striped bass Morone saxatilis (about 250 g each) in a laboratory experiment. Consumption of red shiners (whole‐body selenium concentration, 9.6 μg Se/g wet weight) by striped bass was followed by modified behavior, little increase in weight, a reduced condition factor (10 5 ·weight/length 3 ), an elevated selenium concentration in muscle (3.8 ug Se/g wet weight), histological damage to the liver and trunk kidney, and the death of all fish within 78 d. Striped bass fed a comparable, uncontaminated diet of golden shiners Notemigonus crysoleucas (about 1 g each) gained weight, increased their condition factor, had muscle selenium concentrations averaging 1.1 μg Se/g wet weight, and exhibited no histological abnormalities or reduced survival during the 80‐d experiment. Toxicity and death induced by selenium‐contaminated prey fish may contribute to the absence of piscivorous game fish in selenium‐affected regions of Belews Lake.