Taxon-toxicity study of fish to typical transition metals: Most sensitive species are edible fish

Abstract

Transition metals are widespread in aquatic environments and can be harmful when concentrations exceed thresholds. Especially for fish, an important component of the human diet, low concentrations of transition metals will directly affect their well-being. Different taxa are protected by unified water quality criteria (WQC) thresholds, which rarely consider the ecological status and economic value of different species. There is therefore an urgent need to study taxon-specific sensitivity. The present study established the species sensitivity distributions of nine typical transition metals (Cr, Mn, Fe, Ni, Cu, Zn, Ag, Cd and Hg) for protecting freshwater and seawater fish based on non-parametric kernel density estimation methods, and then derived their acute and chronic HC5-values. The results showed that Ag and Hg have the highest acute toxic potency to fish in freshwater as well as seawater. Compared with marine fish, freshwater fish were more tolerant to acute exposure to Cr, Fe, Ni and Zn, whilst being more sensitive to Ag and Cd. Moreover, edible fish are more sensitive than other fish to these metals in both freshwater and seawater, encouraging more protection of economically valuable fish that may potentially affect human health. The study provides a strong reference for future research on taxon-specific WQC for transition metals.