2007 Volume 61 Issue 1 Pages 38-53
Nowadays various anthropogenic pollutants including endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs) are widely spread in natural water. Most of the major rivers being flowed through urban and industrial areas or agricultural land, and the closed coastal seawater area fed by these rivers have become highly contaminated with some man-made substances and their by-products. The appropriate assessment of environmental impacts for coastal organisms is, therefore, is required.
In order to understanding the effects of anthropogenic pollutants on fish and other organisms inhabiting coastal seawater areas, physiological, biochemical and immunological indicators were investigated. The major topics were the effects of deoxygenation, cement effluents, heavy metals and anthropogenic pollutants including EDCs.
Bacterial composition in sediment, δ13C and δ15N values of benthic organisms, O2 consumption, renal erythropoietin and hepatic adenylate energy charge of fish were effective anoxic biomarkers. Hatching rate and the cough reaction frequency of fish were available as a biomarker of the pollution caused by cement effluents. Elemental compositions in the bioactive tissues of some organisms and the otoliths of fish were available for grasping of internal metal sequestration and its ecotoxicological relevance. As a mean of assessing anthropogenic pollution, it was advisable to investigate the relationship between hepatic microsomal cytochrome P-450 and brain acetylcholinesterase, or plasma total thyroxine or the phagicytic activity of granulocytes or gonad-somatic indices of flat fishes, for example, marbled sole.
There were also reported a few instance on environmental bioremediation through marine algae and bacteria.
