Java medaka: A proposed new marine test fish for ecotoxicology

Abstract

Java medaka (Oryzias javanicus), which is distributed in estuarine waters of East to Southeast Asia, is proposed here for consideration as a new marine test fish. Semi-static acute toxicity tests were conducted at 26 degrees C for 1 week, 2 weeks, and 1 month old Java-medaka exposed to 4-chlorophenol and zinc, and 2 weeks olds exposed to potassium dichromate (hexavalent chromium) and sodium hypochlorite (residue chlorine). Ninety-six hours LC50s of 4-chlorophenol, zinc, hexavalent chromium, and residue chlorine were from 3.0 to 4.1, from 12.4 to 14.7, 7.4, and 0.05 mg/L, respectively. There were no large differences in sensitivity for 4-chlorophenol and zinc among the three growth stages. Compared with other fish species, these LC50s were relatively low suggesting that Java medaka has relatively high sensitivity to chemicals. This fish is quite easy to keep in the laboratory, with low mortalities at early stages and it takes about 3 months to mature from hatching, suggesting that this fish can be used not only for short-term toxicity tests but also for early life stage toxicity tests. From these results, Java-medaka is highly recommended as a marine test fish for ecotoxicity tests.