To monitor the health of aquatic organisms, biomarkers have been used as effective tools in assessing environmental risk. In this study was examined the teleost Coris julis, sampled in two marine sites in Messina (Italy) at different pollution degree, Milazzo, characterized by a strong anthropogenic impact, and Marinello, the natural reserve. C. julis is a species particularly suitable to biomonitoring because its feeding habits favor bio-accumulation of xenobiotics. The following biomarkers were used to estimate the impact of highly persistent pollutants: cellular localization of cytochrome P4501A (CYP1A) and glutathione-S-transferase (GST) in the liver, their hepatic expression at the mRNA level, the enzymatic activity (EROD and BPMO), the micronucleus and comet assays in the blood, esterases (AChE in the brain and BChE in the blood) activity and evaluation of PAH metabolites in the bile. The present findings provide evidence of statistically significant differences in parameters between individuals collected in two sites.
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