Short-term effects of two silver salts on tissue respiration and enzyme activity in the cunner (Tautogolabrus adspersus).

Abstract

In the work reported here, we examined some effects of a 96-h exposure of cunners to silver either as the nitrate or as the acetate. Our purpose was to determine whether one salt might be considered more toxic than the other, as measured by a common physiological parameter, gill-tissue respiration, and by enzyme activity in liver and skeletal muscle. We wished also to discover whether these different criteria of metabolic stress would lead to similar conclusions regarding the relative toxicities of these two salts. MATERIALS AND METHODS Animl exposure: Cunners were collected from Long Island Sound near Milford, Connecticut, and kept in tanks of flowing, sand-filtered seawater (24 + 2 o/oo salinity) in the laboratory for I-2 wk of acclimation. -During that period they were fed a mixture of Purina Trout Chow and chopped meats of the surf clam (~solidissima), but were unfed for 4-5 days prior to and during each experimental exposure. The fish, ranging in weight