Environmental Monitoring and Assessment

, Volume 185, Issue 2, pp 1137–1150 | Cite as

Seasonal variation of Sarpa salpa fish toxicity, as related to phytoplankton consumption, accumulation of heavy metals, lipids peroxidation level in fish tissues and toxicity upon mice

  • Khaled Bellassoued
  • Asma Hamza
  • Jos van Pelt
  • Abdelfatteh Elfeki
Article
First Online:
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Accepted:

Abstract

The aim of this work was to investigate for Sarpa salpa the seasonal trend in the food sources, heavy metals bioaccumulation and the oxidative stress in the organs. In addition, the toxicity was assessed by mouse bioassay of extract of the fish's organs collected in autumn, the peak of occurrence of hallucinatory syndrome. The toxicity was further studied for compounds present in epiphyte collected from the sea at the end of spring and in summer that are digested by the S. salpa in these seasons. We observed a higher lipid peroxydation in different tissues of S. salpa compared to the control fish Diplodus annularis. Furthermore, heavy metals accumulation in organs of these fish showed a significant variation between the two species (P < 0.05). The lethal dose (LD50%) determined for crude ciguatoxin (neurotoxins) extracts of viscera, liver, brain and muscle of S. salpa were as follows: 1.217, 2.195, 14.395, 18.645 g/kg mouse, respectively. We noticed a significant correlation (P < 0.05) between the total amount of toxic dinoflagellates and the level of TBARS in the liver, the brain and the muscle, this for all seasons and all sizes. Moreover, the cytotoxic effect observed for epiphytes extract confirms the transfer of toxins originating from toxic dinoflagellates, which live as epiphytes on P. oceanica leaves, to the fish by grazing. Our work indicates that, toxic phytoplanktons and heavy metals accumulation are responsible for the increase of oxidative stress in the organs of S. salpa. Hence, the edible part of S. salpa, especially the viscera and liver, can cause a threat to human health, and consumption should, for this reason, be dissuaded.

Keywords

Diet Heavy metals Neurotoxins Mouse bioassay S. salpa TBARS Toxic dinoflagellate 

Abbreviations

S. salpa

Sarpa salpa

D. annularis

Diplodus annularis

VI

vacuity index

TBARS

thiobarbituric acid-reactive substances

P. oceanica

Posidonia oceanica

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Copyright information

© Springer Science+Business Media B.V. 2012

Authors and Affiliations

  • Khaled Bellassoued
    • 1
    • 2
    • 4
  • Asma Hamza
    • 2
  • Jos van Pelt
    • 3
  • Abdelfatteh Elfeki
    • 1
  1. 1.Sciences Faculty of SfaxSfaxTunisia
  2. 2.National Institute of Sciences and Technologies of the SeaSfaxTunisia
  3. 3.Liver Research Facility/Laboratory of HepatologyUniversity Hospital GasthuisbergLeuvenBelgium
  4. 4.Laboratory of Animal Ecophysiology, Faculty of SciencesUniversity of SfaxSfaxTunisia

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