RS2K1

4
AGULAY . BOTAVARA . GABULE . GALLARDO . PAASA
FRESHWATER
FISHES
AS INDICATORS OF WATER QUALITY IN RIVERS
RIVERS
provide life-sustaining
supplies of water and
important nutrients for
living organisms around
many rivers
have been
altered for the
purposes of
water
provisioning,
with little
concern for
dependent
Freshwater fishes are entirely
dependent on these habitats
for their existence and
survival and their
dependence renders them
extremely vulnerable to
anthropogenic influence in
the form of habitat
alteration, degradation of
water quality and barriers
 In contaminated waters, fish may exhibit whole
animal, morphological, histopathological, cellular,
organismic, or parasitic aspects of abnormalities,
KAO-PING RIVER
TONGKONG RIVER
ERA-JIIN RIVER
LIN-BIEN RIVER
Table 1. Main Pollution Sources of Four Contaminated
Rivers in Southern Taiwan
Fig.1 Tilapia with Body Lesions Fig.2 Tilapia with Mass on One Side of
and Necrosis and Split and
Lesioned Fins
The prevalence of deformities such as split fins,
lower lip extension and gill deformities were
significantly related to various water quality
parameters, including low DO and high
ammonium, lead and zinc concentrations

The persistence of tilapia in polluted waters and

the development of a suite of morphological
deformities suggest that tilapia can be used as
sentinels of non-point source pollution in rivers
 By being exposed to
different contaminants,
alterations in the gill
epithelium have been
observed wherein the
severity of the changes
depend on the
concentration of the
pollutant and the
Fig. 3
Photomicrograph
 High incidences for several histological
changes in the gills of both fish species
were observed in the three ecosystems

There were no significant differences in fish

gill anomalies between the two reservoirs
indicating that other stressors may have
caused the occurrence of gill anomalies and
 Pollutants from
urban and rural
sources enter the
waterways and are
flushed into the
rivers, significantly
impacting the water
quality and health
of the rivers
 Among the various toxic pollutants, heavy
metals are particularly severe in their action
due to tendency of bio-magnification in the
 METALS
important pollution
factor of various
aquatic systems as a
result of increased
industrialization,
mining, agriculture,
transportation,
damming, sewage
Fish muscle tissue has been investigated for
its importance in the human diet

Among these tissues, the gills, intestine and

the liver have the highest metal
concentration
Surface river sediments were collected
in three rivers in three seasons: April, July
and November
 ZAPADNA
MORAVA RIVER
Runs through heavily
populated
and industrialized part
of Serbia

DANUBE RIVER JUZNA

Receives MORAVA RIVER
pollution from Runs through
different densely populated
sources along region
 The Analysis of seasonal dynamics of elements showed that
the highest contents of most elements in all three
rivers were quantified in April

The fish from the Zapadna had the highest concentration of

Cu and Ni in the liver and intestine, and of Zn in the
muscle tissue, which was in accordance with the
concentrations of these metals in the sediment
Three groups of ten fish
were subjected to serial
dilutions of the stock
solution of zinc of 0
(control), 5.0 and 10.0 mg/l
in three large plastic
pools of 60 liters
capacity
Fig.4 Level of RBC for control Fig.5 Level of hematocrit for
and exposed fish control and exposed fish
Fig.6 Level of hemoglobin (%) Fig.7 Level of clotting time for
in the blood of control and control and exposed fish
exposed fish
 Studies have shown that when the water
quality is affected by toxicants, any
physiological changes will be reflected in
the values of one or more of the
haematological parameters
ADVANTAGES

Some families possess long lifespan

Fishes occur in a wide variety

of habitats
Among the easier groups to identify to
the species level
Exhibit a wide range of feeding
habits, reproductive traits, and
tolerance to environmental stress
 disadvantages
Migration of fishes may provide
misleading data
Each sampling method has
associated biases
More people are required for
sampling
Fin