Fish pathology and disease biomarkers 1999-2000

摘要

The use of fish diseases and pathological changes in the liver as indicators of environmental stress at the population level have been used for many years (Bucke et al., 1996; ICES 1997). The rationale for their inclusion in biological effects monitoring programmes has been provided in previous reports in this series. The main external conditions used for monitoring purposes include acute and healing ulcerations, lymphocystis, epidermal hyperplasia/papilloma and hyperpigmentation. Internally, the presence of hepatic lesions comprising of nodules and larger tumours has also become routine for health assessments of the target fish species for monitoring, namely the dab (Limanda limanda) and the flounder (Platichthys flesus). Although the aetiology ofcertain diseases is known, for example an iridovirus is known to cause lymphocystis (Bucke et al, 198.3), the aetiology for others remains uncertain. However, the measurement of prevalence of these diverse conditions in individual fish provides the datarequired to produce an holistic assessment of the overall health status in the populations sampled. Recent attempts to assess long-term monitoring data have shown that it is possible to detect trends in disease prevalence that can, in conjunction with specific biomarker data, be used to provide greater confidence for the use of disease as an indicator of contaminant effect (Lang and Dethlefsen, 1996; Wosniok et al., 2000).