Long-Term Toxic Effects of DDT Food and Water Exposure on Fathead Minnows (Pimephales promelas)

Abstract

Fathead minnows (Pimephales promelas) were exposed during a partial chronic toxicity test to two DDT concentrations in the water, one in the diet, and combinations of water and diet for 266 days through a reproductive period of their life cycle. Tissue residue analyses were performed at preset intervals throughout the exposure and also on embryos, larvae at hatch, and 30- and 60-day progeny. The contribution of DDT from each source was monitored with gas chromatography and liquid-scintillation techniques. The fish were fed a diet of clams that had accumulated 14C-DDT when exposed at a DDT water concentration similar to that in the high fish exposure. Higher total DDT tissue residues were accumulated from the water than diet. Residues contributed by dietary DDT were additive to those from the water. Mean concentration factors were 1.2 for the diet and 100,000 for the water. Fish exposed to DDT in both water and diet had higher mortality rates than those exposed to only one or the other of these sources. DDT in the diet significantly reduced the probability of survival of the test fish (P = 0.025). Estimated maximum acceptable toxicant concentrations for DDT are 0.9 μg/ℓ for fish exposed to DDT in the water only and 0.4 μg/ℓ for fish exposed to DDT in both water and diet. Embryo residue levels and larval mortality rates were about twice as great for those from parent fish that had been exposed to DDT in both the water and diet as for those from parent fish exposed to only DDT in the water. Key words: toxicity, DDT, pesticides, food chain, 14carbon, bioassay, minnows, clams, aquatic animals