Use of Anguilla anguilla for Biomonitoring Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) in Brackish and Riverine Waters in Central and Southern Italy

Abstract

One of the aims of the Water Framework Directive 2000/60/CE is to assess the ecological status of water bodies in Europe in relation to priority contaminants, including some persistent organic pollutants (POPs). Recognizing the benefits of measuring hydrophobic compounds in biota tissues rather than in water, we used the European eel Anguilla anguilla in the present study as a bioindicator species for monitoring POPs in freshwater/brackish environments. We present the results of a contamination analysis of eels carried out in three Italian sites representative of different pollution levels: the last part of Tevere River, which flows through a very urbanized and industrialized area, Caprolace Lake and Lesina Lagoon, inside two different protected national parks. A very high pollution variability was recorded within each group of eels, in particular for those caught at Caprolace Lake. Due to this high variability, inter-population comparisons were carried out only between eels collected in Tevere River and Lesina Lagoon. PCBs values in Lesina Lagoon were two orders of magnitude lower than those measured in Tevere River, while no significant differences were found for levels of DDT compounds. Our results confirm the suitability of the eel as an indicator of persistent bioaccumulative pollutants in brackish environments and rivers where it can be easily caught, but we are sceptical of its use in deep lakes where its capture might be problematic considering standard operation procedures for fish sampling.

Contamination, parasitism and condition of Anguilla anguilla in three Italian stocks

“…Although lipid content in starving fish might be underestimated (Bettinetti et al 2011), the difference between yellow and silver eels is evident and in Contamination, parasitism and condition of Anguilla anguilla agreement with the fact that yellow eels are still growing while silver eels are developing or conserving lipid reserves for migration (Durif et al 2005). Boetius and Boetius (1980) argued that lipid storage needs to be at least 20 % of the body weight to support the energetic costs of migration and gamete production for this species.…”

“…The high variability of eel contamination levels observed in the present study probably reflects both between-site differences in land use and protection levels and within-site small-scale habitat heterogeneity (Bettinetti et al 2011). We found a negative correlation between POP concentrations on lipid basis and lipid content in the 22 Caprolace eels.…”

“…In a previous work, Bettinetti et al (2011) reported the levels of PCBs, DDTs (dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane), HCHs (hexachlorocyclohexanes) and HCB (hexachlorobenzene) in eels collected from three different water bodies in Italy (Caprolace Lake, Lesina Lagoon and Tevere River) to investigate the possible use of this species for POP biomonitoring in European aquatic ecosystems. In this study we integrated the dataset used by Bettinetti et al (2011) with contamination data from additional eel specimens and extended the POP analysis to other chlorinated compounds, i.e.…”

“…In this study we integrated the dataset used by Bettinetti et al (2011) with contamination data from additional eel specimens and extended the POP analysis to other chlorinated compounds, i.e. b-HCH, dioxins, furans and dioxin-like PCBs (DL-PCBs).…”

Assessing lake typologies and indicator fish species for Italian natural lakes using past fish richness and assemblages

“…Furthermore, the Directive 2008/105/ EC (EU, 2008), amending the WFD 2000/60/EC, includes fish for the monitoring of the levels of pollutants that are hardly measurable in water (Galassi & Cassi, 2001;Belpaire & Goemans, 2007), such as mercury, hexachlorobenzene and hexachlorobutadiene. However, identification of reference species that can realistically be used as bioindicators in freshwaters is still subject to debate (Bettinetti et al, 2010). Therefore, the elaboration of a list of lake type specific fish species present prior to pollution is also important for the risk assessment of pollutants.…”