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Effects on Rainbow Trout Fry of a Metals‐Contaminated Diet of Benthic Invertebrates from the Clark Fork River, Montana
Author(s) -
Woodward Daniel F.,
Brumbaugh William G.,
Delonay Aaron J.,
Little Edward E.,
Smith Charlie E.
Publication year - 1994
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(1994)123<0051:eortfo>2.3.co;2
Subject(s) - rainbow trout , cadmium , benthic zone , fish measurement , environmental chemistry , zoology , environmental science , trout , fishery , chemistry , biology , fish <actinopterygii> , organic chemistry
Abstract The upper Clark Fork River in northwestern Montana has received mining wastes from the Butte and Anaconda areas since 1880. These wastes have contaminated areas of the river bed and floodplain with tailings and heavy metal sludge, resulting in elevated concentration of metals in surface water, sediments, and biota. Rainbow trout Oncorhynchus mykiss were exposed immediately after hatching for 91 d to cadmium, copper, lead, and zinc in water at concentrations simulating those in Clark Fork River. From exogenous feeding (21 d posthatch) through 91 d, fry were also fed benthic invertebrates from the Clark Fork River that contained elevated concentrations of arsenic, cadmium, copper, and lead. Evaluations of different combinations of diet and water exposure indicated diet‐borne metals were more important than water‐borne metals – at the concentrations we tested – in reducing survival and growth of rainbow trout. Whole‐body metal concentrations (μg/g, wet weight) at 91 d in fish fed Clark Fork invertebrates without exposure to Clark Fork water were arsenic, 1.4; cadmium, 0.16; and copper, 6.7. These were similar to concentrations found in Clark Fork River fishes. Livers from fish on the high‐metals diets exhibited degenerative changes and generally lacked glycogen vacuolation. Indigenous Clark Fork River invertebrates provide a concentrated source of metals for accumulation into young fishes, and probably were the cause of decreased survival and growth of age‐0 rainbow trout in our laboratory exposures.