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- Title
The white mullet (Mugil curema) as biological indicator to assess environmental stress in tropical coastal lagoons.
- Authors
García-Gasca, Alejandra; Ríos-Sicairos, Julián; Hernández-Cornejo, Rubí; Cunha, Isabel; Gutiérrez, Jesús N.; Plascencia-González, Héctor; de la Parra, Luz María García; Abad-Rosales, Selene; Betancourt-Lozano, Miguel
- Abstract
Several coastal lagoons and estuaries in Mexico receive untreated domestic and industrial discharges which contain complex mixtures of contaminants. In order to assess the effects of chemical contamination, we used the White mullet (Mugil curema) as biological indicator. We worked in two estuaries located in Northwest Mexico: Urias (highly polluted) and Teacapan (less polluted, therefore used as reference site). We measured several endpoints at different levels of biological organization: vitellogenin transcription in males as biomarker of estrogenic contamination, as well as reproductive, morphological (deformities), morphometric, and meristic parameters. Total RNA was isolated from the liver, and a partial sequence of the mullet vitellogenin gene was obtained; gene expression was analyzed by quantitative PCR. At the same time, gonad samples were analyzed by histologic techniques to determine sex ratios and the reproductive cycle stage. The reproductive season was detected from February to June in both sites, but the gonadosomatic index was consistently higher in Teacapan. Sex ratios were female-biased in both estuaries, and one intersex gonad and several malformations were found in fish from Urias. Vitellogenin gene transcription in males was detected in both sites, although gene expression was slightly higher in Urias. The results obtained in this study indicate that biological effects of contamination are evident in fish, environmental estrogens may be present in both estuaries, and the white mullet is useful as biological indicator to identify and characterize environmental stressors in tropical coastal ecosystems.
- Subjects
WHITE mullet; ENVIRONMENTAL engineering; BIOINDICATORS; LAGOONS; VITELLOGENINS; POLYMERASE chain reaction
- Publication
Environmental Monitoring & Assessment, 2016, Vol 188, Issue 12, p1
- ISSN
0167-6369
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1007/s10661-016-5714-4