Although effluent from municipal wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) is a major stressor in receiving environments, relatively few studies have addressed how its discharge affects natural fish communities. Here, we assessed fish community composition over three years along a gradient of effluent exposure from two distinct WWTPs within an International Joint Commission Area of Concern on the Great Lakes (Hamilton Harbour, Canada). We found that fish communities changed with distance from both WWTPs, and were highly dissimilar between sites that were closest to and furthest from the wastewater outfall. Despite differences in the size and treatment technology of the WWTPs and receiving habitats downstream, we found that the sites nearest the outfalls had the highest fish abundances and contained a common set of signature fish species (i.e., round goby Neogobius melanostomus, green sunfish Lepomis cyanellus). Non-native and stress tolerant species were also more abundant near one of the studied WWTPs when compared to the reference site, and the number of young-of-the-year fish collected did not vary along the effluent exposure gradients. Overall, we show that fish are attracted to wastewater outfalls raising the possibility that these sites may act as an ecological trap.

Rivers play a crucial role in collecting and transporting microplastics. Nonetheless, the degree to which microplastic pollution of freshwaters affects its biota remains understudied. Sampling of wild fishes has so far demonstrated that microplastic ingestion occurs commonly across species with alternate feeding modes, as well as in different environmental compartments. Due to the exploratory nature of many preceding studies, drawing insight about factors driving microplastic ingestion has remained difficult. It continues unknown for instance, what the importance of varying environmental microplastic concentrations is to predict ingestion rates in fish from those areas. Here we show that ingestion rates of microplastic particles (>300 μm) in the benthic round goby from the Rhine river were negligible (1 particle in 417 fish). Among the 535 visually selected putative microplastic fragments, stringent data processing steps to reduce the number of false positives during reference library searches, revealed the importance of taking such steps into account in comparison with other data processing routines. Our observations remained consistent, despite having collected fish from a strongly polluted site of the lower Rhine, which served as contrast to a significantly cleaner site upstream. These results demonstrate that higher environmental microplastic concentrations are not necessarily mirrored by higher ingestion rates in a given fish species.

The ecological state assessment of the two areas in the Sea of Azov (Temryuk and Yasensky Bays) was carried out using morphophysiological (hepatosomatic and gonadosomatic indices) and biochemical parameters (activity of antioxidant enzymes (superoxide dismutase, catalase), aminotransferases, cholinesterase, level of oxidized proteins, and lipid peroxidation), as well as the toxicological parameters in the liver of round goby Neogobius melanostomus. The results of the biochemical analysis allowed to establish a shift of the prooxidant-antioxidant reactions towards the processes of protein oxidation, also an increase of aminotransferase activities in the fish liver from Temryuk Bay compared to similar indicators in fish from Yasensky Bay. At the same time, the average values of length and weight as well as the gonadosomatic index were found significantly lower, while the hepatosomatic index significantly higher in fish from Temryuk Bay as compared to similar indices of fish from Yasensky Bay. Analysis of the biochemical and morphophysiological parameters of round goby from the two locations demonstrates less favorable ecological state of the Temryuk Bay that fully agrees with the results of the elementary analysis in the fish liver. Studied parameters can be used in the ecological monitoring of the natural surroundings of this species and the areas beyond.

Concerns about the negative effects of microplastics (MPs) on human health have led to increasing attention to the occurrence of MPs in the aquatic environment. Recent studies have focus on the spatio-temporal distribution of MPs in rivers for residential and agricultural areas. Qarasu River Basin, watershed to Gorgan Bay, is the site of many permanent rivers and the levels of MP pollution in those rivers are unknown. This research was conducted in three different types of land use: forest, residential, and agricultural along 8 different rivers. A total of 9 fish species were identified and the presence of MPs in 87% of fish was confirmed. The prevalence of MP among species was Liza sp. > Carassius gibelio > Gambusia holbrooki > Rutilus rutilus > Neogobius melanostomus > Cyprinus carpio = Vimba vimba > Rutilus frisii > Barbus sp. The highest frequency of MPs was observed in Qarasu River (1880 ± 251 n/kg) and Mohammadabad River (184 ± 1340 n/kg) in agricultural land use, and the lowest frequency was related to Baghu and Ziarat Rivers with 660 ± 77 and 600 ± 91 n/kg found in forest land use respectively. The highest type, color, and size of MP sediments were fragment, black, and 1–2 mm, respectively. The highest type, color, and size of MP in fishes were fiber, black, and 0.5–0.1 mm respectively. Overall according to the source tracing result, agricultural land use was the main source of MP pollution of Gorgan Bay. The Bay is strongly affected by the incoming rivers, the Qarasu River Basin as the most important river supplying water.

The objective of this study was to determine how the short-term exposure to a supraphysiological concentration of waterborne 17β-estradiol (E₂) influences on melatonin (Mel) and thyroxine (T₄) concentrations in plasma and E₂ and 11-ketotestosterone (11-KT) concentrations in plasma and gonads in both sexes of round goby (Neogobius melanostomus) during the pre-spawning, spawning, late spawning and non-spawning phases. The experimental protocol was based on short-term, repeated exposures of fish to a supraphysiological dose of waterborne E₂. Mel level was unchanged on exposure to E₂ during the investigated phases, and its role in determining a time frame for spawning in both sexes of round goby seems to be stable in those conditions. T₄ and sex steroids (E₂ and 11-KT) were sensitive to the exposure of E₂, and those changes influence gonads by accelerating oocyte development, ovulation and regression and inhibiting spermatogenesis in this species. The results demonstrate that the physiological responses of fish in all investigated phases were altered over a short window of exposure, indicating that short-term exposure to a supraphysiological dose of E₂ may impact fish in the wild. Furthermore, round goby can be recommended as a very suitable model for studying endocrine disruptors, which is sensitive to even short exposure to E₂.

The anthropogenic activities in the Black Sea area are responsible for toxic metal contamination of sea food products. In this study, several toxic metals: cadmium, lead, nickel, chromium, and copper were quantified in different tissues (digestive tract, muscle, skeleton, skin) of nine fish species (Neogobius melanostomus, Belone belone, Solea solea, Trachurus mediterraneus ponticus, Sardina pilchardus, Engraulis encrasicolus, Pomatomus saltatrix, Sprattus sprattus, Scorpaena porcus) by using atomic absorption spectrometer with a high-resolution continuum source and graphite furnace technique (HR-CS GF-AAS), and the risk of fish meat consumption by the young human population was evaluated. These metals are used in high amounts in industries located near the coastline such as shipyard construction and industrial plants. Toxic metal accumulation depends on fish feeding behavior, abiotic conditions, metal chemistry, and animal physiology. For instance, cadmium was measured in the muscle of the investigated species and average values of 0.0008–0.0338 mg kg⁻¹ were obtained. The lowest average value of this metal was measured at benthic species N. melanostomus and the highest at the pelagic predator T. mediterraneus ponticus. Generally, the highest metal concentration was measured in the digestive tract that has the role of biofilter for these contaminants. The risk of contamination is significantly reduced by avoiding the consumption of certain fish tissues (digestive tract and skin for copper and skeleton for nickel). An estimation of the dietary metal intake to young consumers was realized for each of the studied species of fish from Romanian, Bulgarian, and Turkish waters, during the period 2001–2014 in order to evaluate the risks of chronic exposure in time due to metal toxicity. This estimation is important for the prevention of chronic exposure due to metal toxicity. Food exposure to studied metals showed a negative trend for Romania, Turkey, and Bulgaria based on the data provided by this study. The young consumers were highly exposed to these elements during the 2001–2006 period as proven by the results from this study.

Pikeperch (Sander lucioperca), European catfish (Silurus glanis), common carp (Cyprinus carpio), and gobies (Neogobius gymnotrachelus, Neogobius melanostomus) were collected from the Danube River (Belgrade section), and samples of liver, muscle, or whole-body composites (in the case of gobies) were analyzed for As, Cu, Fe, Hg, Mn, and Zn with inductively coupled plasma optical spectrometry to find out if there was a correlation between accumulation of these elements in predatory and prey species, as well as in pairs of species with overlapping diets. Concentrations of all analyzed elements were either higher (Cu, Fe, Mn, Zn) in liver than in muscle, or equal (As, Hg), except for Hg in carp, which was higher in muscle. Mercury concentration in liver and muscle of predators (catfish, pikeperch) was significantly (<10⁻⁴) higher than in prey fishes (carp and gobies). The results indicate that Hg concentration was biomagnified through the food chain. Concentrations of As, Fe, and Hg in carp liver and gobies whole-body composite were similar, but carp had significantly (<10⁻⁴) higher values of Zn and Cu in liver. The regression analysis and trendline equations indicate that the concentrations of all tested elements, except for As in liver, and Mn and Fe in muscle, were similar in predatory fish (pikeperch and catfish), on one hand, and in prey fish (carp and gobies), on the other hand. Distinctly high Zn concentration in carp is very common in this species due to its physiology. Concentrations of Hg and Zn were higher than the maximum acceptable concentration due to the high pollution level in this section of the Danube River, accordingly posing a risk for the human consumption of these fish species.