The use of rainbow trout oncorhynchus mykiss in early ontogenesis for the water toxicity assessment

Abstract

Toxicity of some heavy metals (HM), heavy metal model mixture (HMMM), orimulsion, crudeoil and water of some biotopes of Lake Druksiai was evaluated by use of the fish in all stages ofdevelopment (embryos, larvae, adult fish). The rainbow trout was very sensitive test-organism tothe effect of different kind pollutants and the most sensitive to the impact of pollutants were fishat early stages of development i.e. larvae and embryos. The integrated biological parameters offish at all stages of development (survival, growth rate, and relative mass increase) were the mostsensitive ones. In accordance with the sensitivity to the impact of heavy metals, animals in theearliest stages of their development were more sensitive than plants, but the plants in some caseswere more sensitive to heavy metals than adult fish. Therefore, plants as well as animals -rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) of different life stages, as test-organisms, arerecommended for the inclusion of the complex biotests for the assessment of the impact of heavymetals. The complex of the most sensitive parameters investigated of rainbow trout can besuccessfully used for the water toxicity assessment containing different kind pollutants. The dataobtained let predict the impact of pollution not only to the physiological status of aquaticorganisms but as well as to their survival in natural water bodies.