Histopathological changes in two potential indicator fish species from a hyper-eutrophic freshwater ecosystem in South Africa: a baseline study

Abstract

SummaryHistopathological changes were identified in selected target organs from two freshwater fish species, Clarias gariepinus and Oreochromis mossambicus, inhabiting a hyper-eutrophic freshwater aquatic system. The approach was to use a histology-based fish health assessment protocol which included a semi-quantitative histopathological assessment of six target organs (gills, liver, ovaries, testes, kidney, and heart). Results of water quality analysis showed selected variables to be above the recommended levels including pH, ammonia, nitrogen, chloride, and phosphorus. A number of histopathological alterations were identified in the target organs of both species, with the highest number observed in the liver. Species differences were identified in terms of the severity of the alterations within all the organs, with most alterations being regressive in nature. The results of this study provide valuable baseline data for two indicator species inhabiting a hyper-eutrophic system that could be useful for future bio-monitoring studies.2

Organochlorine pesticide levels in Clarias gariepinus from polluted freshwater impoundments in South Africa and associated human health risks

“…A number of individual fish had OCP levels above the recommended limit for daily human intake as stipulated by the World Health Organisation (WHO) and US Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Studies also showed reproductive abnormalities including intersex in C. gariepinus from the RVD (Barnhoorn et al, 2004;Pieterse et al, 2010) and Oreochromis mossambicus (Peters, 1852) from the RDPD (Marchand et al, 2012).…”

Sugar cane vinasse in water bodies: Impact assessed by liver histopathology in tilapia

“…In this sense, the semi-quantitative assessment was especially important to show the significance of these results, as observed in other studies with fish (Marchand et al, 2012;van Dyk et al, 2012), which also used methodologies based in the work described by Bernet et al (1999).…”

Histology and ultrastructure of hepatic nodular alterations in Clarias gariepinus (Burchell, 1822)

“…The studies by Marchand et al. () and Van Dyk et al. () were the first reports of macroscopically visible hepatic nodular alterations in C. gariepinus from Roodeplaat Dam.…”

“…Previous studies have confirmed the presence of hepatotoxins such as microcystins in the Roodeplaat Dam (Van Ginkel, ; Conradie & Barnard, ). It has been suggested that these hepatotoxins are the most likely cause, of these nodules (Van Dyk, Cochrane, & Wagenaar, ; Marchand, Van Dyk, Barnhoorn, & Wagenaar, ). A number of studies are available that specifically show ultrastructural alterations in fish liver following exposure to microcystins (Li, Xie, & Chen, ; Qiu, Xie, Ke, Li, & Guo, ; Atencio et al., ; Branka et al., ; Mitsoura et al., ).…”