Effects of mercury on fertilization success of sperm and eggs of two populations of killifish, Fundulus heteroclitus

Thesis/Dissertation · Thu Jan 01 00:00:00 EST 1987

OSTI ID:6408204

Khan, A T

Killifish (Fundulus heteroclitus) embryos from Piles Creek (PC), a polluted tidal creek near heavily industrialized Linden, New Jersey, are more tolerant to methylmercury (meHg) than embryos from a non-polluted area in Southampton, Long Island (LI), New York. This study was designed to determine whether tolerance existed in gametes and juvenile fish of these two populations. Exposure (2 min) of PC sperm to either 0.01 or 0.05 ppm meHg had no effect on fertilization and sperm motility, but exposure to Hg caused a significant reduction in fertilization and sperm motility, indicating that Hg was more toxic to PC sperm than meHg. However, exposure of LI sperm to 0.01 ppm meHg caused a significant reduction in fertilization and sperm motility. Exposure of LI sperm to 0.01 ppm Hg did not have any effect on fertilization success, indicating that Hg was less toxic than meHg for Li sperm. Exposure (20 min) of PC and LI eggs to higher concentrations of these toxicants showed similar results.

• Research Organization: Rutgers-the State Univ., Newark, NJ (USA). Dept. of Chemistry
• OSTI ID: 6408204
• Resource Relation: Other Information: Thesis (Ph. D.)
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

63 RADIATION, THERMAL, AND OTHER ENVIRON. POLLUTANT EFFECTS ON LIVING ORGS. AND BIOL. MAT.
FISHES
SENSITIVITY
MERCURY
TOXICITY
METHYLMERCURY
COMPARATIVE EVALUATIONS
EGGS
EMBRYOS
FERTILIZATION
GENETIC VARIABILITY
NEW JERSEY
NEW YORK
REPRODUCTION
SPERMATOZOA
ANIMALS
AQUATIC ORGANISMS
BIOLOGICAL VARIABILITY
ELEMENTS
FEDERAL REGION II
GAMETES
GERM CELLS
MERCURY COMPOUNDS
METALS
NORTH AMERICA
ORGANIC COMPOUNDS
ORGANIC MERCURY COMPOUNDS
USA
VERTEBRATES
560300* - Chemicals Metabolism & Toxicology