Organophosphate esters (OPEs) are a class of emerging contaminants and are found to be ubiquitous in various environmental matrices owing to their wide applications. Furthermore, OPEs were reported to have the capacity to induce growth retardation in fish in laboratory exposure experiments. However, their impacts on wild fish remain largely unknown. In this study, 11 out of 19 OPEs were detected in silver carp from the middle reaches of the Yangtze River, with concentrations ranging from 7.72 to 257.72 μg/kg dry weight. Moreover, the concentrations of Σ11OPEs were negatively associated with the body weight, standard length, and total length of silver carp. Growth retardation, including weight loss and body length decrease, was also observed in silver carp exposed to OPEs at their environmentally relevant concentrations in a laboratory-controlled experiment. Furthermore, exposure to OPEs did not affect the concentration of the growth hormone, but significant changes in the content of thyroxine and expression of genes included in the hypothalamic–pituitary–thyroid axis were observed, indicating that thyroid hormone-disrupting effects contributed to the growth retardation in silver carp. Our findings provide a novel insight into the threat of OPEs to fishery resources, calling for more regulation of OPEs in the aquatic environment.

Tris­(1,3-dichloro-2-propyl) phosphate (TDCIPP) has been frequently detected in the aquatic environments and aquatic organisms, and several studies have reported that great concentrations of TDCIPP could cause malformation in zebrafish (Danio rerio) embryo/larvae. However, the chronic effects of environmentally relevant concentrations of TDCIPP on bone phenotype remain unclear. In this study, 1-month-old crucian carp (Carassius auratus) were exposed to 0, 500, or 5000 ng/L TDCIPP for 18 months, and the effects on skeletal malformation were evaluated. The results demonstrated that exposure to 5000 ng/L TDCIPP significantly increased malformation rate in female fish compared with the control, and no such malformation effect was observed in males. Furthermore, histopathological results showed a reduction of bone thickness and bone separation and vertebrae compression in deformed females of the 5000 ng/L TDCIPP exposure group. Transcriptomic sequencing was performed to evaluate the effects of TDCIPP on gene expression. It was found that TDCIPP significantly changed the expressions of genes involved in complement and coagulation cascades pathway, p53 signaling pathway, ribosome biogenesis in eukaryotes, and steroid hormone biosynthesis, which might be responsible for the observed caudal malformation in this study. These results provided a novel knowledge of osteotoxicity of TDCIPP.