1976/07/01 by John E. Till, S.V. Kaye, J.R. Trabalka · 1 citation
Environmental Science · Chemistry · #Environmental Toxicology and Ecotoxicology #Fish Ecology and Management Studies #Cyprinus #Pimephales promelas #Plutonium #Hatching #Carp #Uranium #Radiochemistry #Chemistry #Animal science #Fish <Actinopterygii> #Biology #Fishery #Materials science #Minnow #Metallurgy
paper · doi:10.2172/7344946
openalex publication_date 1976/07/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/06/11
The radiological and chemical toxicity of plutonium and uranium to the developing embryos of fish was investigated using eggs from carp, Cyprinus carpio, and fathead minnows, Pimephales promelas. Freshly fertilized eggs were developed in solutions containing high specific activity /sup 238/Pu or /sup 232/U or low specific activity /sup 244/Pu, /sup 235/U, or /sup 238/U. Quantitative tests to determine the penetration of these elements through the chorion indicated that plutonium accumulated in the contents of carp eggs reaching a maximum concentration factor of approximately 3.0 at hatching. Autoradiographs of 16 ..mu.. egg sections showed that plutonium was uniformly distributed in the egg volume. Uranium localized in the yolk material, and the concentration factor in the yolk sac remained constant during development at approximately 3.3. Doses from /sup 238/Pu which affected hatchability of the eggs were estimated to be 1.6 x 10/sup 4/ rads and 9.7 x 10/sup 3/ rads for C. carpio and P. promelas, respectively; doses from /sup 232/U were 1.3 x 10/sup 4/ rads for C. carpio and 2.7 x 10/sup 3/ rads for P. promelas. A greater number of abnormal larvae than in control groups was produced by /sup 238/Pu doses of 4.3 x 10/sup 3/ rads to carp and 5.7 x 10/sup 2/ rads to fathead minnows; 3.2 x 10/sup 3/ rads and 2.7 x 10/sup 2/ rads were estimated from /sup 232/U. Eggs that were incubated in 20 ppM /sup 244/Pu did not hatch. This mortality may have been the result of chemical toxicity of plutonium. Concentrations of 60 ppM of /sup 235/U and /sup 238/U did not affect egg hatching. Based on these data, concentrations in fish eggs were calculated for representative concentrations of uranium and plutonium in natural waters and the corresponding dose levels are below those levels at which observable effects begin to occur.