1992-04-02_REVISION - M1988112 - Laserfiche WebLink

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1 1 1 1 26 BIOLOGICAL REPORT 85(1.23) Table 3. Continued. Species, concentration, and other variables Effects Fteference• Brook trout, (continued) 25 Inhibited oxygen intake after 5 h 2 33 Adverse e((ects on juvenile growth rate during 2,8 exposure for 90 days 5~] 12 LC50 (96 h) range for swimup fry and juveniles 8,~2 108-518 LC50 (96 h) for sac-fry 8,22 >212 LC50 (96 h) for eggs 8,22 1. Towill et al. 1978; 2. EPA ]980; 3. EPA 1973; 4. Azcon-Bieto et al. 1987; 5. Low and l.ee 1981; 6. Abel And Garner 1986; 7. Lussier et el. 1985; 8. Smith et al. 1979; 9. Thompson 1984; 30. Leduc et al. 1982; 11. Drews end Greazynekl 1987; 12. Hillard end Roubaud 1985; 13. Leduc 1984; 14. Da Corte end Ruby 1984: 15. Dixon and Leduc 1981; 16. LesniaN end Ruby 1982; 17. Kovacs end Leduc 19826; 18. McGeachy end Leduc 1988; 19. Marking et el. 1984; 20. Bellentyne 1987A; 21. Sawyer end Heath 1988; 22. Smith et al. 1978; 23. Ruby et el. 1987; 24. Leduc 1978; 25. Alabeeter et al. 1983; 26. Holden s¢Qd Marsden 1964; 27. Smatresk et al. 1986; 28. Barron end Adelman 1984: 29. Barron and Adelman 1985; 30. DoudoroR I956: 31. Wiley 2984; 32. Rees end Baguet 1989. Maximum etceptable toxicant concentration. Lower value in each pair indicates highest concentration to;tad producing no measurable effect on growth, survival, reproduction, or metabolism during chronic exposure; higher value indicates lowest eon- centration tested producing a measurable eReet. Adverse etTects of cyanide on aquatic plants are unlikely at concentrations that cause acute ef- fects to most species of freshwater and marine fishes and invertebrates (EPA 1980). Water hya- cinth (Eichhornia crassipes) can survive for at ]east 72 h in nutrient solution containing up to 300 mg CN/L and can accumulate up to 6.7 g/kg dry weight (b W }plant material. On this basis, l ha of water hyacinths has the potential to absorb 56.8 kg of cyanide in 72 h, and this property maybe use- ful in reducing the level of CN in untreated waste- waterfrom various electroplating factories, where concentrations generally exceed 200 mg CN/L (Low and Lee 1981). Cyanide may also affect plant community structure. Some algae, for example, metabolized CN at water concentrations <1 mg/L, but at concentrations of 1-10 mg/L, algal activity was inhibited, leaving a biota dominated ,by Actinomycetes-a filamentous bacterium (Knocks 1981). Cyanide adversely affects fish reproduction by reducing the number of eggs spawned, and the vi- abi:+ty of the eggs by delaying the process of secon- dary yolk deposition in the ovary (Lesniak and Ruby 1982; Ruby et al. 1986). Vitellogenin, a glycolipophosphoprotein present in plasma offish during the process of yolk formation, is synthe- sized in liver under stimulation of estrogen and subsequently sequestered in the ovary; it is essen- tialfor normal egg development. Exposure of natu- rally reproducing female rainbow trout to as little as 10 µg HCN/L for 12 days during the onset of the reproductive cycle caused a reduction in plasma vitellogenin levels and a reduction in ovary weight. The loss of vitellogenin in the plasma would re- move amajor source of yolk (Ruby et al. 1986). Re- productiveimpairment inadult bluBgills (Lepomis macrochirus) has been reported fpllowing expo- sure to 5.2 µg CN/L for 289 days (EPA 1980). Fertil- izedfish eggs are usually resistant t0 cyanide prior to blastula formation, but delayed affects occur at 60 to 100 µgHCN/L, including birth defects and re- duced survival of embryos and newly hatched lar- vae (Leduc et al. 1982). Concentrations as low as 10 µg HCN/L caused developmental abnormalities in embryos of Atlantic salmon after mttended expo- sure (Leduc 1978). These abnormalities, which were absent in controls, included yolk sac dropsy and malformations of eyes, mouth, and vertebral column (Leduc 1984). Other adverse effects of cyanide on fish in- clude delayed mortality, pathology, impaired swimming ability and relative performance, sus- ceptibility to predation, disrupted respiration, os- moregulatory disturbances, and altered growth patterns. Free cyanide concentrations between 50 and 200 µg/L were fatal to the more-sensitive fish species over time, and concentrations >200 µg2 were rapidly lethal to most species of fish (EPA 19801. Cyanide- induced pathology In fish includes subcutaneous hemorrhaging, liver necrosis, and