Multibiomarker Approach in Fish to Assess a Heavily Polluted Brazilian Estuary, Guanabara Bay

Abstract

Abstract Brazil’s Guanabara Bay (GB), located in Rio De Janeiro, is a deeply contaminated, eutrophic waterbody that has a reduced environment that challenges the understanding of the effects of pollutants on the biota. This paper presents an integrated strategy to evaluate the impact of contamination, utilizing a multibiomarker approach in the following two fish species: corvine (Micropogonias furnieri) and burrfish (Chilomycterus spinosus). The integrated strategy is comprised of a general biomarker of fish’ physical condition, the condition factor (CF), and specific biomarkers of pollutant exposure such as metallothionein (MT), acetylcholinesterase (AChE) activity and biliary polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) metabolites. The results showed that both fish species presented significantly lower CF values, higher levels of MT, and lower AChE activities at the bay. Levels of PAHs were also higher in GB for both fish species; however, a different behavior concerning the origin of the PHAs was also identified. Therefore, the importance of using more than one sentinel species in the environmental assessment of complex pollution situations is illustrated by the results. Our findings indicate that pollutants are affecting the biota of the estuary. The present study shows the utility of incorporating a set of biomarkers to outline the consequences of anthropogenic intakes in water bodies under complex contaminated conditions.