Effect of petroleum hydrocarbons on Atlantic cod, Gadus morhua, following chronic exposure

1987 ◽  
Vol 65 (3) ◽  
pp. 490-494 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. W. Kiceniuk ◽  
R. A. Khan

Experiments were conducted to ascertain the effects of crude oils at low concentrations on Atlantic cod (Gadus morhua) following long-term exposure (3–21 weeks) in a flow-through seawater system. Control and oil-treated fish were fed to satiation. Effects were assessed by comparing condition factor, organ indices, and hematological values with those of corresponding control animals. No mortality occurred but food consumption was significantly reduced in oil-treated cod, especially during summer–autumn. Condition factor and somatic indices of some organs were lower in oil-treated fish. Gall bladders were enlarged in oil-treated fish. Effects of oil exposure were less pronounced during winter, as food intake in both groups of fish was reduced considerably. The rate of gametogenesis was slower in male cod exposed to oil fractions in summer–autumn whereas spermeation was delayed in fish treated in winter–spring. These studies provide evidence that feeding, growth, and reproduction in male cod are biologically important variables that are affected following chronic exposure to petroleum.

1984 ◽  
Vol 62 (10) ◽  
pp. 2038-2043 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. A. Khan ◽  
J. Kiceniuk

To assess the long-term effect on the tissues of marine fish, Atlantic cod, Gadus morhua L., were exposed to water-soluble fractions of Venezuelan and Hibernia crude oils at concentrations of 50–300 ppb for 12–13 weeks in a flow-through seawater system. Histopathological changes in oil-exposed fish included increased numbers of mucus-producing epithelial cells, capillary dilation, lamellar hyperplasia, and fusion of adjacent filaments in gills, microvesicular formation in hepatocytes, delayed spermatogenesis with intratubular multinucleated giant cells, and an increase of melanomacrophage centers in the spleen and kidney. Lesions were more prevalent and severe in fish exposed to Hibernia crude than to Venezuelan crude at a similar concentration.


2004 ◽  
Vol 61 (4) ◽  
pp. 505-510 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jae S Choi ◽  
Kenneth T Frank ◽  
William C Leggett ◽  
Ken Drinkwater

The collapse of Atlantic cod (Gadus morhua) stocks in the northwest Atlantic Ocean ranks among the most dramatic and widely known ecological changes of the 20th century. Less widely known are the systemic changes that occurred within these areas prior to and coincident with the cod collapse. Our analysis of a fishery-independent, long-term, standardized database collected on the eastern Scotian Shelf off Nova Scotia revealed that during the past four decades, coherent, community-level reductions in body size, biomass, and physiological condition have occurred in the resident demersal fish species. The changes occurred over large spatial (>104 km2) and short temporal (<10 years) scales, suggesting a progressive decline in the nature and extent of the energy flow through the benthic system. The unexpected and persistent poor condition of a variety of morphologically and functionally dissimilar demersal fish species, living in an environment of reduced intra- and inter-specific competition, suggests a decoupling of the benthic– pelagic systems. This decoupling appears to be attributable to a cascading series of processes involving the cumulative removal of biomass resulting from commercial fishing, compensatory and self-stabilizing increases in pelagic fish biomass, and a decline in groundfish productivity exacerbated by decadal scale variability in water temperature and stratification.


1987 ◽  
Vol 44 (11) ◽  
pp. 1890-1897 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul Cabilio ◽  
David L. DeWolfe ◽  
Graham R. Daborn

Selected long-term fisheries catch data from the New England – Fundy area and the Grand Banks were examined for concordance between changes in fish catches and the 18.6-yr nodal cycle of the tides using a nonlinear regression model. Significant positive correlations were found for Atlantic cod (Gadus morhua), haddock (Melanogrammus aeglefinus), alewife (Alosa pseudoharengus), Atlantic herring (Clupea harengus harengus), and scallop (Placopecten magellanicus), with lag times that are biologically appropriate for the time from hatching to recruitment into the fishery. A significant negative correlation with the nodal cycle was evident for Atlantic menhaden (Brevoortia tyrannus), for which this area constitutes the most northerly part of its range. Cod catches on the Grand Banks showed no correlation with the nodal cycle. It is suggested that the correlations between the nodal cycle and the changes in fish catches are caused by correlated changes either in sea surface temperature or in productivity resulting from changes in the degree of vertical mixing.


1997 ◽  
Vol 272 (2) ◽  
pp. R710-R717 ◽  
Author(s):  
B. Platzack ◽  
J. M. Conlon

Incubation of plasma from the Atlantic cod Gadus morhua with trypsin generated two peptides identified as [Trp5,Leu8]bradykinin (cod BK) and [Arg0,Trp5,Leu8]bradykinin (cod [Arg0]BK). Bolus intraarterial injections of synthetic cod [Arg0]BK (0.1-10 nmol/kg) into conscious cod produced an immediate increase in ventral aortic pressure that was of relatively short duration (<5 min) and an increase in heart rate. Cod [Arg0]BK was approximately 10 times more potent than cod BK, and the maximal pressor response produced by the peptide was significantly (P < 0.05) greater. Bolus intra-arterial injections of either mammalian BK or cod des-Arg9,[Arg0]BK, in doses up to 100 nmol/kg, had no effect on pressure or heart rate. The data indicate that the ligand binding properties of the BK receptors in cod are different from those of the mammalian B1- and B2-receptor subtypes. The pressor response to 1 nmol/kg cod [Arg0]BK was reduced (by 51 +/- 6%; P < 0.05) in prasozin-treated fish, whereas in enalapril-treated fish, the response to the peptide was enhanced (by 42 +/- 12%; P < 0.05). The data indicate an involvement of catecholamines but not an activation of the renin-angiotensin system in mediating the vasopressor action of BK in the cod.


2005 ◽  
Vol 62 (5) ◽  
pp. 1104-1110 ◽  
Author(s):  
C H Ainsworth ◽  
U R Sumaila

Where the conventional model of discounting advocates aggressive harvest policies, intergenerational discounting could have been used to render the historic gross overfishing of Atlantic cod (Gadus morhua) economically unappealing compared with a more conservative long-term strategy. Under these discounting approaches, we compare the historic harvest trend from 1985 (and projected postcollapse earnings) with theoretical optimal harvest profiles determined by an ecosystem model. The optimal scenarios generate less initial harvest than the historic profile but maintain the resource and provide greater yields over the long term. At a discount rate equal to market interest, we demonstrate that it was more economic under conventional valuation to harvest the cod stock to collapse than it would have been to sustain the population. However, under intergenerational valuation, the sustainable optimal scenarios outperform the actual harvest profile. Application of conventional discounting by fishing consortiums may be partly to blame for depletion, yet management fell short of even that ideal.


Aquaculture ◽  
2011 ◽  
Vol 322-323 ◽  
pp. 184-190 ◽  
Author(s):  
Børge Damsgård ◽  
Frode Bjørklund ◽  
Helge K. Johnsen ◽  
Hilde Toften

FACETS ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 660-681 ◽  
Author(s):  
Loïc Baulier ◽  
M. Joanne Morgan ◽  
George R. Lilly ◽  
Ulf Dieckmann ◽  
Mikko Heino

Life history theory predicts selection for higher reproductive investment in response to increased mortality among mature individuals. We tested this prediction over the period from 1978 to 2013 for three populations of Atlantic cod ( Gadus morhua) off Newfoundland. These populations were heavily fished for a long period. We considered changes in standardized gonad weight as a proxy for changes in gonadal investment. We accounted for the allometry between gonad and body weight, individual body condition, water temperature, and potential spatial and density-dependent effects. Males display significant temporal trends in gonadal investment in all populations; in agreement with theoretical predictions, these trends show increased gonadal investments during the earlier part of the time series when mortality was high, with the trends leveling off or reversing after the later imposition of fishing moratoria. In contrast, females display patterns that are less consistent and expected; significant trends are detected only when accounting for density-dependent effects, with females in two populations unexpectedly showing a long-term decline in gonadal investment. Our results support the hypothesis that fisheries-induced evolution has occurred in gonadal investment in males, but not in females, and suggest that gonadal investment is more important for male reproductive success than expected in this lekking species.


Author(s):  
Clara Coll-Lladó ◽  
Felix Mittermayer ◽  
Paul Brian Webb ◽  
Nicola Allison ◽  
Catriona Clemmesen ◽  
...  

AbstractTo date the study of ocean acidification on fish otolith formation has been mainly focused on larval and juvenile stages. In the present pilot study, wild-captured adult Atlantic cod (Gadus morhua) were exposed to two different levels of pCO2, 422µatm (ambient, low pCO2) or 1091µatm (high pCO2), for a period of 30 weeks (from mid-October to early April 2014–2015) in order to study the effects on otolith size, shape and CaCO3 crystallization amongst other biological parameters. We found that otoliths from cod exposed to high pCO2 were slightly smaller (− 3.4% in length; − 3.3% in perimeter), rounder (− 2.9% circularity and + 4% roundness) but heavier (+ 5%) than the low pCO2 group. Interestingly, there were different effects in males and females; for instance, male cods exposed to high pCO2 exhibited significant changes in circularity (− 3%) and roundness (+ 4%) compared to the low pCO2 males, but without significant changes on otolith dimensions, while females exposed to high pCO2 had smaller otoliths as shown for length (− 5.6%), width (− 2%), perimeter (− 3.5%) and area (− 4.8%). Furthermore, while the majority of the otoliths analysed showed normal aragonite deposition, 10% of fish exposed to 1091µatm of pCO2 had an abnormal accretion of calcite, suggesting a shift on calcium carbonate polymorph crystallization in some individuals under high pCO2 conditions. Our preliminary results indicate that high levels of pCO2 in adult Atlantic cod might affect otolith growth in a gender-specific way. Our findings reveal that otoliths from adult cod are affected by ocean acidification, and we believe that the present study will prompt further research into this currently under-explored area.


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