Accumulation of pesticides, cholinesterase inhibition and reduced body condition in juvenile Jenynsia multidentata from the Pampa Region of Argentina

JULIE C BRODEUR; MARISOL SANCHEZ; LUCIANA CASTRO; DANTE E. ROJAS; DIEGO CRISTOS; MARIA JIMENA DAMONTE; MARIA BELEN POLISERPI; MARIA FLORENCIA D´ANDREA; ADRIAN ANDRIULO

Congreso; SETAC LatinAmerican 12th annual meeting; 2017

The aim of this study was to characterize the level and nature of the pesticide contamination reaching one-sided livebearer fish (Jenynsia multidentata) in a watercourse situated within the main agricultural region of Argentina, and to assess the effects of this contamination on fish health. Juvenile one-sided livebearer fish (Jenynsia multidentata) were collected in December 2011 and March 2012 from three sites along the Pergamino River. Pesticide contamination was characterized by extracting whole fish and analytically determining thirty different pesticide molecules. The biomarkers catalase, glutathion-S-transferase, and cholinesterases were assessed. Body condition was calculated as an estimate of the amount of energy reserves possessed by the fish. Seventeen different pesticides were detected in fish tissues with 81% of captured animals containing at least one pesticide molecule. The pyrethroid insecticides fenvalerate and bifenthrin were most frequently detected, being respectively found in 41.8 and 36.4% of samples tested. Highly toxic dichlorvos and pirimiphos-methyl were detected in the fish. Differential levels of contamination could not be established amongst sites but were observed within sites amongst the two sampling dates. The months when pesticide residues were most abundant in Site A and B corresponded to the months when body condition was lowest in the two sites. The inhibition of cholinesterases activity in March when body condition was reduced in Site B and C also points out to a role of insecticide contamination in the reduction of body condition. These findings provide strong new evidence that current-used agricultural pesticides can accumulate in wild fish and impact their health and energetics.