PARENT SESSION

WA2 Chemical and Biological Analysis of Endocrine Disrupting Compounds
255 Portland Ballroom
8:00 AM - 12:00 PM, Wednesday

() Endocrine Disruption In Young Of The Year Winter Flounder In Jamaica Bay, An Urban Estuary.

Mena, L¹, Magliulo-Cepriano, L.², Denslow, N³, Schreibman, M⁴, McElroy, A.¹, ¹ Marine Sciences Research Center, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, NY, USA² Biology Department, State University of New York at Farmingdale, Farmingdale, NY, USA³ University of Florida, Gainesville, Gainesville, NY, USA⁴ Aquatic Research & Environmental Assessment Center, Brooklyn College, Brooklyn, NY, USA

ABSTRACT- The aim of this present study was to determine if field-collected young of the year (YOY) winter flounder (Pseudopleuronectes americanus) from Jamaica Bay, NY, USA, a coastal embayment heavily impacted with sewage derived contaminants are showing signs of endocrine disruption. We collected YOY (approximately 5 month old) winter flounder from four different sites within Jamaica Bay, and compared them to fish collected from our reference site, Shinnecock Bay, NY. In addition, a subset of reference YOY flounder were exposed to sediments dosed with the endocrine disruptor 4-nonylphenol (NP- nominal concentration of 50g/g wet sediment) for three weeks to determine the responsiveness of fish of this age to a compound known to cause endocrine disruption that is also found in extremely high (up to 40 g/g dry weight) concentrations in parts of Jamaica Bay sediment. All of the fish collected in Jamaica Bay showed increased levels of circulating plasma vitellogenin (VTG) compared to reference site fish. YOY winter flounder exposed to NP dosed sediments also showed elevated VTG. Histological evaluation of the gonads from these fish suggests that male fish represent a small fraction of the YOY collected. Further histological analysis of liver and gonad samples form these fish is currently underway. Our results indicate that the early juvenile stage of this benthic fish of importance to both the sport and commercial fisheries is being impacted by estrogenic compounds in its environment. The ecological ramifications of these effects have yet to be elucidated.

Key words: vitellogenin, winter flounder, endocrine disruption, histopathology