Abstract
Near simultaneous exposure to selenium and salinity stress is an environmental reality faced by white sturgeon juveniles in the San Francisco Bay-Delta, having the potential for adverse synergistic impacts on juveniles during seaward migration. White sturgeon juveniles (36–132 g) were transferred into higher salinities (15–20 ppth) after exposure to dietary selenium (0.4, 9.6, 20.5, 41.7, 89.8, or 191.1 μg Se/g diet) in the form of l-selenomethionine (SeMet) for 8 weeks in freshwater (0 ppth). White sturgeon fed above 41.7 μg Se/g diet experienced significant (P < 0.05) declines in survival relative to sturgeon fed between 0.4 and 41.7 μg Se/g diet when transferred into brackish water (15 ppth salinity) for 3 days. Plasma osmolality and ionic concentrations in white sturgeon after abrupt transfer correlated positively with dietary Se concentrations. Transfer of white sturgeon fed above 41.7 μg Se/g diet into 20 ppth brackish water for 1 day resulted in significant declines in survival relative to white sturgeon fed 0.4–41.7 μg Se/g diet. Hematocrit and dehydrational weight loss were significantly correlated with dietary Se concentrations while plasma osmolality and ion concentrations were not. The transfer of sturgeon into 20 ppth water for 3 days resulted in severe survival declines in all treatment groups. The results of this study suggest that the previously established threshold for Se toxicity (10–20 μg Se/g) is sufficient to protect white sturgeon from the adverse interactive affects resulting from increases in dietary Se and ambient water salinity.
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Abbreviations
- ppth:
-
Parts per thousand
- SeMet:
-
Selenomethionine
- Hct:
-
Hematocrit
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Acknowledgements
Funding for this study was provided by a number of grants including: CALFED; the University of California, Toxic Substance Research and Teaching Program, Ecotoxicology Lead Campus Program; the Jastro Shields Fellowship; the Ecology Block Grant; the Hart, Cole, and Goss Research Fellowship, Department of Animal Science, UC Davis; and the Marin Rod and Gun Club. We thank The Fishery for the donation of juvenile sturgeon for this project. We are also grateful for the technical assistance provided by Paul Lutes and Eric Hallen of the Center of Aquatic Biology and Aquaculture, University of California, Davis. We also thank Teresa Leung and David Yu for their participation in this project, and Peter Allen for his guidance in conducting the osmolality and ion analyses.
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Tashjian, D., Cech, J.J. & Hung, S.S.O. Influence of dietary l-selenomethionine exposure on the survival and osmoregulatory capacity of white sturgeon in fresh and brackish water. Fish Physiol Biochem 33, 109–119 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10695-006-9122-5
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10695-006-9122-5
Keywords
- Acipenser transmontanus
- Sturgeon
- Osmoregulation
- Salinity challenge
- Selenium
- Selenomethionine
- Toxicity