Short-term exposure to municipal wastewater influences energy, growth, and swimming performance in juvenile Empire Gudgeons (Hypseleotris compressa)

Locomotor and behavioural responses of empire gudgeons (Hypseleotris compressa) exposed to coal mine wastewater

“…Average morphometric endpoints did not differ statistically between treatments, but a trend of increased weight and condition (k) was observed in exposed fish compared to controls after 14 d of exposure. The lack of significance is not unexpected given the relatively short exposure timeframe, however, a recent study observed significantly increased weight and condition in juvenile H. compressa from the same population, following 14 d exposure to domestic wastewater (Melvin, 2015). Fish collected from sites contaminated by coal mining and with elevated selenium concentrations have previously been shown to exhibit increased k compared to reference fish (Miller et al, 2009).…”

“…Additionally, a recent study found a similar (non-significant) increase in k after 4-weeks exposure of larval amphibians to coal mine wastewater from the same sites as the present study (Lanctôt et al in review). Increased condition is a characteristic response that has been observed in fish exposed to complex wastewaters from various municipal and industrial sources (Galloway et al, 2003;Knapen et al, 2009;Melvin, 2015). Such responses have generally been attributed to increased food and nutrition resulting from organic matter in the wastewater (Campbell et al, 2003).…”

“…H. compressa was selected for this study because it represents an ecologically relevant species for the coal mine-affected catchments of Central Queensland, Australia. This species was recently shown to exhibit altered swimming performance following short duration exposure to municipal wastewater, and is therefore a good model for behavioural toxicity studies (Melvin, 2015).…”

Neurotoxicological Effects of Municipal Effluents in Fathead Minnow Pimephale Promelas

“…Municipal effluents are known to contain a cocktail of contaminants, such as PAHs, halogenated hydrocarbons, metals (including metallic nanoparticles), pharmaceuticals, personal care products and steroids [26,27]. In organisms exposed to municipal effluents, a number of toxic effects are observed such as inflammation, oxidative stress, estrogenicity (vitellogenin induction and feminization) and neurological effects/behaviour [28,29,30]. In this study, the increase in VTG levels in the liver of exposed fathead minnow suggests the occurrence of compounds able to disrupt the estrogen signaling pathways which are commonly found in treated municipal effluents [29].…”

Behaviour revised: Contaminant effects on aquatic animal behaviour

“…Lari et al (2016) showed that Caspian roach exposed to the water soluble fraction of crude oil show impaired swimming performance, which could be linked to contaminant-induced impairments in the oxygen delivery system (e.g., decreased pO 2 and increased pCO 2 in oil exposed animals). Melvin (2016) showed increased swimming velocity and body condition, and decreased lipid content in juvenile empire gudgeons exposed to full-strength municipal waste water.…”