The lipid content in organs and tissues of fish found in lake contaminated by mining wastes

Abstract

For several years in Institute of Biology of the Karelian Research Centre of the Russian Academy of Sciences carried out monitoring studies state fish fauna of Lake Kostomuksha (Karelia, Russia), which is the burial of technogenic waste materials of Kostomuksha ore dressing mill. The activity of the enterprise has led to a change in the basic physical and chemical characteristics of the water: high mineralization and increased turbidity in Lake Kostomuksha. Comparative analysis of contents of lipids and fatty acids in tissues pike, roach and whitefish from the two points (Lake Kostomuksha (experimental) and Lake Kamennoe (control))was conducted to determine the effect of mining wastes on the biochemical status of fishes. According to lipids analysis, pike was the most resistant to anthropogenic influence among the studied species of fishes. This result is explained by the peculiarities of ecology pike: pike, unlike the roach and whitefish, belongs to a higher order of the consuments. Possibly, in the evolution of this species formed special adaptive mechanisms, including at the biochemical level, allowing more plastic to adapt to changing environmental conditions. The most pronounced difference in the content of lipids and fatty acids found in fish liver, it may be connected by a high metabolic activity of this organ. Change in the content of lipid components in the gills and kidneys of fishes in the mining water was likely to be associated with the regulation of the osmotic pressure and the maintenance of ion exchange of fishes under conditions of high mineralization of tailing. The muscles of fish less vulnerable to the toxic effects. The degree of modification of the studied parameters was depended on influence of highly technological enterprises and waste is a specific and tissue-specific in nature.