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Nonylphenols and related compounds are common products of biodegradation of a large group of nonionic surfactants, the nonylphenol polyethoxylates. Many of these compounds are known to be environmentally persistent and to elicit estrogenic response in both mammals and fish. In this study, nonylphenol (NP), nonylphenol monoethoxylate (NP1EO), and octylphenol (OP) were found in tissues of mature male flounder, Platichthys flesus (5-55 ng/g NP, 190-940 ng/g NP1EO, wet weight), and in tissues of juvenile flounder (30-180 ng/g NP, wet weight). These fish also showed detectable levels of the yolk protein vitellogenin in their plasma, indicative of estrogenic exposure. The compounds were also found in discharges from a major sewage treatment works (3000 ng/L NP, 45 000 ng/L NP1EO) and in sediments from two estuaries in north-east England; the highest levels from the highly industrialized Tees (1600-9050 ng/g NP, 125-3970 ng/g NP1EO, 30-340 ng/g OP, dry weight) and lower levels from the industrialized/ urbanised Tyne estuary (30-80 ng/g NP, 160-1400 ng/g NP1EO, 2-20 ng/g OP dry weight). The implications of these findings for fish populations are discussed.

ABSTRACT. Indicators of environmental oestrogen exposure in male and female wild flounder Platichthys flesus were followed over the annual reproductive cycle. Fish were obtained from the Tyne estuary, UK, which receives effluent from a large sewage treatment works and several other anthrophogenic sources and the Solway Firth, UK, which receives only low levels of sewage effluent. Vitellogenin (vtg), a female-spec~fic protein, was present in the plasma of up to 9 4 % of males from the Tyne and was accompanied by inhibited spermatogenesis and the incidence of pathological testic'ular abnormalities. The vtg levels in males are independent of the seasonal cycle. Female flounders from the Tyne exhibited increased vtg levels and a higher proportion of degenerating oocytes than Solway Firth females. This study provides limited evidence that wild populations of flounders showing oestrogenic responses are also suffering reproductive disturbances but the degree of alteration varies during the seasonal reproductive cycle.

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