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Cytogenetic damage in native Baltic Sea fish species: environmental risks associated with chemical munition dumping in the Gotland Basin of the Baltic Sea

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Abstract

This study represents the first attempt to assess genotoxicity and cytotoxicity effects in herring (Clupea harengus membras), flounder (Platichthys flesus), and cod (Gadus morhua callarias) caught at 47 study stations, located close to chemical munition dumpsites in the Gotland Basin, the Baltic Sea. Herring sampled from stations located in the center of chemical munition dumpsites exhibited the highest levels of micronuclei (MN) and total genotoxicity (ΣGentox), which is defined as the sum of frequencies of such nuclear abnormalities as micronuclei, nuclear buds, nuclear buds on the filament, and bi-nucleated erythrocytes with nucleoplasmic bridges. Exceptionally high and high ΣGentox risks were determined for flounder (89.47%), herring (79.31%), and cod (50%) caught at the stations located close to the chemical munition dumpsites.

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank Dr. Thomas Lang (Thűnen Institute of Fisheries Ecology, Cuxhaven, Germany) and Dr. Aleksandras Rybakovas (Nature Research Centre, Vilnius, Lithuania) for collecting samples from stations B14 (May 2012) and BP3 (December 2003) during the RV “Walther Herwig III” cruises. We are thankful to Laima Monkienė for the English language editing.

Data and materials availability

The datasets used and/or analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Nature Research Centre, Akademijos St. 2, LT-08412, Vilnius, Lithuania

    Janina Pažusienė, Roberta Valskienė, Milda Stankevičiūtė, Laura Butrimavičienė & Janina Baršienė

  2. National Marine Fisheries Research Institute, 1 Kołłątaja Street, 81-332, Gdynia, Poland

    Włodzimierz Grygiel

Authors
  1. Janina Pažusienė
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  2. Roberta Valskienė
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  3. Włodzimierz Grygiel
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  4. Milda Stankevičiūtė
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  5. Laura Butrimavičienė
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  6. Janina Baršienė
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Contributions

Janina Pažusienė: Formal analysis, investigation, writing - original draft, writing – review and editing. Milda Stankevičiūtė: Writing - original draft, writing - review and editing, supervision. Włodzimierz Grygiel: Material preparation, data collection, writing - original draft. Roberta Valskienė: Formal analysis, writing - original draft. Laura Butrimavičienė: Formal analysis, writing - original draft. Janina Baršienė: Conceptualization, methodology, supervision

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Janina Pažusienė.

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Highlights

• About 2000 tons of chemical weapons were dumped into the Gotland Basin.

• Exceptionally high genotoxicity risks were determined for fish caught close to the CWA dumpsite.

• The highest ΣGentox and MN frequencies were recorded in herring caught at the station located in the CWA dumping zone.

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Pažusienė, J., Valskienė, R., Grygiel, W. et al. Cytogenetic damage in native Baltic Sea fish species: environmental risks associated with chemical munition dumping in the Gotland Basin of the Baltic Sea. Environ Sci Pollut Res 28, 62200–62215 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-021-14827-0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-021-14827-0

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