Abstract
This paper reports on the seasonal and species comparison of hepatic nodular alterations in two indicator fish species from the hyper-eutrophic Roodeplaat Dam in South Africa. This freshwater system is characterized by seasonal cyanobacterial algal blooms which release bio-toxins, including hepato-toxins, which can have negative effects on the health of the resident fish population. A total of 115 Clarias gariepinus (Burchell) and 98 Oreochromis mossambicus (Peters) were collected seasonally across six different surveys over a period of 3 years. Nodular alterations in livers were assessed both macroscopically and microscopically. We found a species difference with a 48% prevalence of nodular alterations in C. gariepinus and no macroscopically visible alterations in O. mossambicus. Affected fish also showed an increase in the ratio of liver mass to body mass, i.e., the hepatosomatic index. The microscopic characteristics of the nodules were primarily associated with pre-neoplastic, focal areas of cellular alterations; most prevalent were focal areas of steatosis. However, we could not establish a seasonal pattern regarding the occurrence of these alterations and therefore no association between the occurrence of the liver pathology and the cyanobacterial blooms. Our results therefore suggest that the occurrence of nodular alterations is not an acute, seasonal response, but rather a chronic, and possibly, and more interestingly, a species-specific, pathological response.
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Data availability
The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.
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Acknowledgements
The authors also acknowledge Prof. Titus Msagati from the Nanotechnology and Water Sustainability Research Unit, University of South Africa, for assistance with the microcystin analysis.
Funding
The primary funding for this project was supplied by the National Research Foundation (NRF) of South Africa and FRC funding of the University of Johannesburg. The funding body had no role in the study design or analyses of the data.
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CVD and IEB conducted all the field sampling, the microscopic analyses of the tissue samples and the writing and editing of the manuscript. HN assisted with the microcystin analyses and proof read the final draft.
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Ethical clearance was obtained from the Ethics Committee of the Faculty of Science of the University of Johannesburg (REF: 2013-04-26/vanDyk).
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van Dyk, C., Nyoni, H. & Barnhoorn, I. Hepatic nodular alterations in wild fish from a hyper-eutrophic freshwater system with cyanobacterial blooms: a species and seasonal comparison. Environ Sci Pollut Res 29, 15729–15742 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-021-16635-y
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-021-16635-y