Assessing and monitoring local and long-range-transported hydrocarbons as potential stressors to fish stocks

The Arctic is poorly described and understood compared to the North Sea and other boreal areas. We need to learn how knowledge obtained at boreal conditions may be applied at Arctic conditions. Increasing activity of the hydrocarbon industry may cause exposure stress from discharges. Within a joint industry research programme (Biosea) we studied how responses in fish from oil exposure may differ at North Sea boreal and Barents Sea Arctic conditions. Hydrocarbon uptake, metabolites, and enzymatic and genotoxic biomarker type of effect responses were measured in cod (Gadus morhua L.). Hydrocarbon metabolites remain longer in fish bile than original hydrocarbons, which are eliminated fast from tissues. The metabolites may be measured to background concentrations. They describe exposure and they constitute a link to other effects. Body burden, biliary polyaromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) metabolite concentration, and quantities of Cytochrome P-450 1A (CYP1A) and DNA adducts increased with oil in water concentration. The extent of biomarker expression was lower for some biomarkers and elimination was slower at the lowest temperature. The results show that several factors have to be accounted for if warm-water biomarker data are to be applied in cold water.     

Candidate biomarker discovery in plasma of juvenile cod (Gadus morhua) exposed to crude North Sea oil, alkyl phenols and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs)

In this study we have investigated protein changes in plasma of juvenile Atlantic cod (Gadus morhua) induced by crude North Sea oil and North Sea oil spiked with alkyl phenols and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, a surrogate produced water composition. Using a proteomic approach, we identified 137 differentially expressed proteins at different levels of crude oil exposure. Many of the induced protein changes occurred at low levels of exposure. The results obtained with protein expression profiles after exposure to oil and surrogate produced water indicate effects on fibrinolysis and the complement cascade, the immune system, fertility-linked proteins, bone resorption, fatty acid metabolism as well as increased oxidative stress, impaired cell mobility and increased levels of proteins associated with apoptosis. Although the number of individuals and samples in this study is limited within each treatment group, the protein changes observed in this study represent a first screening for potential biomarker candidates in cod plasma reflecting potential effects of crude oil and produced water exposure on fish.     

The Ecology of Intertidal Amphipods in the Oslofjord. The Life Cycles of Chaetogammarus marinus and C. stoerensis

Abstract. In the Oslofjord two species of the amphipod genus Chaetogammarus, C. marinus (LEACH, 1815) and C. stoerensis (REID, 1938) were found to be annual species with similar life cycles. No differences in life cycle traits were found between two C. stoerensis populations where one occupied a freshwater influenced beach and the other a fully marine beach. The breeding period of both species was short and lasted from April to the end of May or early June. Frost prohibited embryonic development in the first part of April so few juveniles were released before the middle of May. In late May and early June all specimens which survived the winter died. The sex ratio was skewed in favour of females, and females produce two to three broods during lifetime. Between 16 and 31 % of the newly laid eggs failed to complete their development. The life cycle of populations of the two species from other geographical areas are compared with the Oslofjord data.