Qualité des milieux aquatiques continentaux : intérêts de l'utilisation d'un marqueur biochimique chez le poisson

Continental aquatic environment quality: use of fish biochemical markers

Laboratoire d'écotoxicologie, Cemagref de Lyon

Abstract

Biological assessment is useful in addition to conventional chemical mesures in order to monitor the water quality. Biochemical markers are early warning systems of the exposition of organisms to pollutants. Among them, the induction of the fish EROD activity enables the detection of specific compounds PAHs, PCBs. dioxines.

EROD induction was evaluated for three cyprinids species in two French river sites : Durance and Moselle. In the river Durance, the closer to a chemical plant the sampling site was, the higher the measured EROD induction. In the river Moselle, the fish showed a significant induced EROD activity after industrial effluent discharges. In both cases the measure was species dependent.

Although the EROD activity seems a fitted tool to assess the water quality, complementary studies are necessary to understand the effects of biotic and abiotic variables, on the results.