Assessment of the state of ovaries of some fish species from Peter the Great Bay of the Sea of Japan in relation to its anthropogenic pollution

Abstract

Ovaries of four flatfish species—Liopsetta pinnifasciata, Pleuronectes obscurus, Pleuronectes yokohamae, and Glyptocephalus stelleri, as well as of Far Eastern navaga Eleginus gracilis and rudd Tribolodon brandtii caught in Peter the Great Bay of the Sea of Japan in prespawning and/or spawning periods were studied. Under conditions of anthropogenic pollution of the bay, the state of fish ovaries is determined by several factors, such as migration activity, mode of life (bottom or pelagic), and the degree of sites pollution where females stayed in the period of the vitellogenous growth of oocytes. The pollution of the bay exerts the most damaging effect on the reproductive system of shallow species of flatfish—L. pinnifasciata and P. obscurus—that do not perform far migrations and throughout their life stay in the zone exposed to toxicants. In navaga Eleginus gracilis and flatfish P. yokohamae, and G. stelleri that perform seasonal migrations, no damages of ovaries were found.