Skip to main content
Log in

Kepone®: Chronic effects on embryo, fry, juvenile, and adult sheepshead minnows (Cyprinodon variegatus)

Chesapeake Science

Abstract

We investigated the toxicity of Kepone to, and uptake by embryo, fry, juvenile, and adult sheepshead minnows (Cyprinodon variegatus) using intermittent-flow toxicity tests. Concentration of Kepone and percentage of adult fish surviving in a 28-day exposure were: Control, 95%; 0.05 μg/liter, 95%; 0.16 μg/liter, 100%; 0.80 μ/liter, 78%; 1.9 μg/liter, 20%; and 7.8 μg/liter and 24 μg/liter, 0%. Concentration factors (concentrations in fish divided by concentrations measured in water) for adult fish averaged 5,200 (range 3,100 to 7,000). Symptoms of poisoning included scoliosis, darkening of the posterior one-third of the body, hemorrhaging near the brain and on the body, edema, fin-rot, uncoordinated swimming, and cessation of feeding. Adults surviving the first exposure were spawned, and the embryonic development, hatching, and survival and growth of fry and juveniles were monitored in a 36-day exposure to Kepone concentrations of 0.08, 0.18, 0.72, 2.0, 6.6, and 33 μg/liter. A significant number of embryos from adult fish exposed to 1.9 μg of Kepone/liter of water developed abnormally and died even when incubated in Kepone-free water. Kepone in water was not as lethal to progeny as to adults: 36-day LC50 for juveniles was 6.7μg/liter; 28-day LC50 for adults, 1.3 μg/liter. However, the average standard length of juvenile fish was significantly reduced by exposure to 0.08 μg of Kepone/liter of water; some fish developed scoliosis. Concentration factors in juvenile sheepshead minnows averaged 7,200 and increased from 3,600 to 20,000 as exposure concentrations decreased.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Literature Cited

  • Butler, P. A. 1963. Pesticide-Wildlife Studies—A review of Fish and Wildlife Service investigations during 1961 and 1962. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Circ. 167:11–25.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dewitt, J. B., D. G. Crabtree, R. B. Finley, and J. L. George. 1961. Effects on wildlife.In: Effects of pesticides on fish and wildlife in 1960. U.S. Fish and Wildl. Serv. Circ. 143:4–15.

  • Elder, W. H. 1964. Chemical inhibitors of ovulation in the pigeon.J. Wildl. Mgt. 28(3):556–575.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Eroschenko, V. P., andW. O. Wilson. 1975. Cellular changes in the gonads, livers and adrenal glands of Japanese quail as affected by the insecticide Kepone.Toxicol. Appl. Pharmacol. 31:491–504.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Good, E. E., G. W. Ware, andD. F. Miller. 1965. Effects of insecticides on reproduction in the laboratory mouse: I. Kepone.J. Econ. Entomol. 58(4):754–757.

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Goodman, L. R., D. J. Hansen, J. A. Couch, and J. Forester. 1976. Effects of heptachlor and toxaphene on laboratory-reared embryos and fry of the sheepshead minnow. Proc. 30th Annu. Conf. Southeast. Assoc. Game and Fish Comm., in press.

  • Hansen, D. J., A. J. Wilson, D. R. Nimmo, S. C. Schimmel, L. H. Bahner, andR. Huggett. 1976. Kepone: Hazard to aquatic organisms.Science 193:528.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • —,S. C. Schimmel, andJ. Forester. 1975. Effects of Aroclor® 1016 on embryos, fry, juveniles, and adults of sheepshead minnows (Cyprinodon variegatus).Trans. Am. Fish. Soc. 104(3):584–588.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Hansen, D. J., S. C. Schimmel, and J. Forester. 1974. Aroclor® 1254 in eggs of sheepshead minnows: Effect on fertilization success and survival of embyryos and fry. Proc. 27th Annu. Conf. Southeast. Assoc. Game and Fish Comm. 1973. p. 420–426.

  • Henderson, C., Q. H. Pickering, andC. M. Tarzwell. 1959. Relative toxicity of ten chlorinated hydrocarbon insecticides to four species of fish.Trans. Am. Fish. Soc. 88(1):23–32.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • McFarland, L. Z., andP. P. Lacy. 1969. Physiologic and endocrinologic effects of the insecticide Kepone in the Japanese quail.Toxicol. Appl. Pharmacol. 15:441–450.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • NAS-NAE Committee on Water Quality Criteria, 1973. Water Quality Criteria, 1972. Ecol. Res. Ser. xx +594 pp. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, EPA-R3-73-033—March 1973. U.S. Gov. Print. Office, Wash., D.C. 20402.

  • Parrish, P. R., S. C. Schimmel, D. J. Hansen, J. M. Patrick, Jr., andJ. Forester. 1976. Chlordane: Effects on several estuarine organisms.J. Toxicol. Environ. Health 1:485–494.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Schimmel, S. C., andA. J. Wilson, Jr. 1977. Acute toxicity of Kepone® to four estuarine animals.Chesapeake Sci. 18(2):224–227.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • —,D. J. Hansen, andJ. Forester. 1974. Effects of Aroclor® 1254 on laboratory-reared embryos and fry of sheepshead minnows (Cyprinodon variegatus).Trans. Am. Fish. Soc. 103(3):582–586.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Schimmel, S. C., P. R. Parrish, D. J. Hansen, J. M. Patrick, Jr., and J. Forester. 1975. Endrin: Effects on several estuarine organisms. Proc. 28th Annu. Conf. Southeast. Assoc. Game and Fish Comm., 1974. p. 187–194.

  • Smith, J. C., andF. S. Arant. 1967. Residues of Kepone® in milk from cows receiving treated feed.J. Econ. Entomol. 60(4):925–927.

    CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Additional information

® Registered trademark, Allied Chemical Corporation, 40 Rector Street, New York, New York 10006. Kepone used was purchased from Chem Service, West Chester, PA as 99% pure. Our analyses indicated 88% pufity. Mention of trade names or commercial products does not constitute endorsement by the Environmental Protection Agency.

Contribution No. 295, Environmental Research Laboratory, Gulf Breeze.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Hansen, D.J., Goodman, L.R. & Wilson, A.J. Kepone®: Chronic effects on embryo, fry, juvenile, and adult sheepshead minnows (Cyprinodon variegatus). Chesapeake Science 18, 227–232 (1977). https://doi.org/10.2307/1350865

Download citation

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.2307/1350865

Keywords

Navigation