Histopathology, blood chemistry, and physiological status of normal and moribund striped bass (Morone saxatilis) involved in summer mortality (’die‐off‘) in the Sacramento‐San Joaquin Delta of California

Abstract

Summer mortality (’die‐off‘) is common in striped bass, Morone saxatilis (Walbaum), in the San Francisco Bay‐Delta region. Tissue and blood samples of moribund and healthy striped bass collected during the summers of 1986–1988 were analysed. Sixteen moribund and 25 healthy reference fish from the Carquinez Strait area and eight fish caught in the Pacific Ocean were studied. Moribund fish plasma was invariably yellow‐orange; most of the moribund fish had discoloured livers with haemorrhagic regions, and approximately one‐third had haemorrhagic intestines. Piasma levels of aspartale aminotransferase, uric acid, alkaline phosphatase and cortisol were significantly higher than in reference fish from Carquinez Strait and the Pacific Ocean, whereas cholesterol, sodium, chloride, triiodothyronine and glucose levels were significantly lower. Hepatic heavy metal concentrations and bacterial content were similar in moribund and reference fish. Gill Na.+, K+ ‐ATPase activity was significantly lower in moribund fish. Liver, kidney, intestine, and thyroid follicles of moribund fish displayed various histopathological changes, and corticosteroidogenic (interrenal) tissue could not be identified positively in moribund fish. These findings are discussed in relation to recent work on the chemical burdens (industrial and agricultural hydrocarbons) found in livers from some of the fish examined in this study.