Reproductive impairment in a fish inhabiting a contaminated coastal environment off Southern California.

Abstract

White croaker (Genyonemus lineatus), collected from a highly contaminated site in San Pedro Bay and from a reference site 80 km away (Dana Point), were induced to spawn in the laboratory. Forty-one per cent of San Pedro Bay females and 54% of Dana Point females spawned. Examination of the ovaries of non-spwaning females revealed that spawning was imminent in the remainder of Dana Point fish but only in 16% of the San Pedro Bay fish. The remainder of the San Pedro Bay fish (43%) contained only immature, yolky oocytes. No croakers containing more than 3.8 ppm ovarian total DDT could be induced to spawn whereas 36% of a contemporaneous San Pedro Bay sample had ovarian total DDT residues in excess of 4 ppm. This suggests that the inability to induce spawning in white croaker may be associated with an ovarian total DDT threshold of about 4 ppm. These data, coupled with observed decreases in fecundity (32%), fertility (14%), and early oocyte loss (30%) relative to reference fish, could partially explain the population declines observed for many southern California fishes since the 1940s.