Impact of crude oil and the dispersant Corexit™ EC9500A on capelin (Mallotus villosus) embryo development

José Beirão; Lucie Baillon; Margaret A Litt; Valérie S Langlois; Craig F Purchase

doi:10.1016/j.marenvres.2019.04.004

Impact of crude oil and the dispersant Corexit™ EC9500A on capelin (Mallotus villosus) embryo development

Mar Environ Res. 2019 May:147:90-100. doi: 10.1016/j.marenvres.2019.04.004. Epub 2019 Apr 10.

Authors

José Beirão¹, Lucie Baillon², Margaret A Litt³, Valérie S Langlois², Craig F Purchase³

Affiliations

¹ Fish Evolutionary Ecology Research Group, Biology Department, Memorial University of Newfoundland, St. John's, NL, A1B 3X9, Canada; Faculty of Biosciences and Aquaculture, Nord University, NO - 8049, Bodø, Norway. Electronic address: jose.beirao-dos-santos@nord.no.
² Institut national de la recherche scientifique (INRS), Centre Eau Terre Environnement, Quebec City, QC, G1K 9A9, Canada.
³ Fish Evolutionary Ecology Research Group, Biology Department, Memorial University of Newfoundland, St. John's, NL, A1B 3X9, Canada.

PMID: 31023559
DOI: 10.1016/j.marenvres.2019.04.004

Abstract

Marine food webs are particularly vulnerable to oil spills if keystone species are impacted. To quantify lethal and sublethal toxicity in a key Holarctic forage fish, capelin embryos were exposed to Hibernia crude oil water accommodated fraction (WAF) produced at an oil-to-water ratio of 1:9 (v:v) and chemically-enhanced WAF (CEWAF) produced with the dispersant Corexit™ EC9500A at a dispersant-to-oil ratio of 1:10 (CEWAF H) or 1:50 (CEWAF L). Corexit alone yielded similar embryotoxicity to CEWAF. 10% CEWAF H, with total polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons of 99.2 μg/L, decreased embryo survival following 10 h of exposure, while continual exposed to 1% CEWAF L decreased hatching and heart rates. Concentrations down to 0.1% CEWAF L increased in a dose-dependent manner the transcript level of cytochrome P4501a1 (cyp1a1) in hatched larvae. These data indicate that embryo-larval survival of capelin is likely at risk if an oil spill coincides in space and time with spawning.

Keywords: Ecotoxicology; Oil spill; Petroleum hydrocarbons; Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons.

MeSH terms

Animals
Embryonic Development
Mallotus Plant* / drug effects
Mallotus Plant* / embryology
Mallotus Plant* / physiology
Petroleum Pollution*
Petroleum* / toxicity
Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons*
Water Pollutants, Chemical* / toxicity

Substances

Petroleum
Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons
Water Pollutants, Chemical