Responses of Wild Finescale Dace (Phoxinus neogaeus) to Experimental Spills of Cold Lake Blend Diluted Bitumen at the International Institute for Sustainable Development-Experimental Lakes Area, Northwestern Ontario

Pipelines carrying diluted bitumen (dilbit) traverse North America and may result in dilbit release into sensitive freshwater ecosystems. To better understand the potential effects of a freshwater oil release, the Boreal-lake Oil Release Experiment by Additions to Limnocorrals project at the International Institute for Sustainable Development-Experimental Lakes Area (Ontario, Canada) modeled seven dilbit spills contained within a 10-m diameter of littoral limnocorrals in a boreal lake. Wild finescale dace (Phoxinus neogaeus) were released in the limnocorrals 21 days after oil addition and remained there for 70 days. Dilbit volumes covered a large range representing a regression of real spill sizes and total polycyclic aromatic compounds (TPAC) between 167 ng L-1 day(-1) and 1989 ng L-1 day(-1). We report the effects of chronic exposure on reproductive potential as well as physiological responses in the gallbladder and liver. In exposures >1000 ng L-1 day(-1), there was a significant decrease in fish retrieval, culminating in zero recapture from the three highest treatments. Among the fish from the limnocorrals with lower levels of TPAC (<500 ng L-1 day(-1)), effects were inconsistent. Gallbladder bile fluorescence for a naphthalene metabolite was significantly different in fish from the oil-exposed limnocorrals when compared to the lake and reference corral, indicating that fish in these lower exposures were interacting with dilbit-derived polycyclic aromatic compounds. There were no significant differences in condition factor, somatic indices, or hepatocyte volume indices. There were also no significant changes in the development of testes or ovaries of exposed dace. The results from the present study may serve to orient policymakers and emergency responders to the range of TPAC exposures that may not significantly affect wild fish. Environ Toxicol Chem 2022;00:1-14. (c) 2022 SETAC

Automated summary

The study investigates the chronic exposure of fish to diluted bitumen spills in controlled environments. The results show that fish retrieval significantly decreased at exposures above a certain concentration. At lower concentrations, fish exhibited physiological responses to dilbit-derived polycyclic aromatic compounds. However, there were no significant differences in condition factor or the development of reproductive organs.