TY  - SER
AU  - Groves,Phillip a.
AU  - Carrasco-Letelier,Leonidas
AU  - Eguren,Gabriela
AU  - Teixera de Mello,Franco
TI  - Preliminary field study of hepatic porphyrin profiles of Astyanax fasciatus - Teleostei, Characiformes - to define anthropogenic pollution / Leonidas Carrasco-Letelier ...[et al.]
PY  - 2006///
KW  - Astyanax Fasciatus
KW  - Toxicología
KW  - Toxicity
KW  - Contaminantes Ambientales
KW  - Pollution
KW  - Peces de Agua Dulce
KW  - Inland Waters
KW  - Freshwater Fish
KW  - Argentina
KW  - Uruguay
N1  - Disponible en caja 17 no 4 de INICNE
N2  - The implementation of eco-toxicological assessment in South America is presently limited due to significant scientific information gaps concerning native species and their potential use as biomarkers. Recently, a common southern hemisphere fish species, Astyanax fasciatus, has been pointed out as a potential bio-indicator to anthropogenic pollution. This is a small, abundant, Neotropical characid, which is widely distributed from Central America south, to the Rio de la Plata Basin of western Uruguay. Our study found a statistically significant increase of coproporphyrin, uroporphyrin and protoporphyrin concentrations in hepatic tissues of A. fasciatus collected from a stream segment with high anthropogenic disturbance (due mainly to agricultural derivatives and motor vehicle transportation activities). Although the area studied showed differences in up and downstream limno-chemical parameters, these differences were not related to the increase of hepatic porphyrin concentrations. Based on the results of our study, we conclude that A. fasciatus is a good bio-indicator of exposure to environmental contaminants, and we propose that this abundant fish species be considered as a sentinel organism for monitoring potential disturbances to freshwater ecosystems
ER  -