Beijing’s Yangtze River has been a home to Chinese sturgeons (Acipenser sinensis) for 140 million years, making them the world’s oldest fish. However, for the past 30 years, the number of sturgeons have declined 85% due to overfishing and lack of spawning areas. Now, there is a new threat, which is from a chemical called triphenyltin (TPT) that is used on ship hulls and fishing nets to prevent from algae buildup and other aquatic hitchhickers. Triphenyltin gets washed off and gets into the Yangtze River causing deformation to the sturgeons.
A group of researchers collected 1000 sturgeon larvae and tested them with triphenyltin to determine the deformities. Results showed that 6.3% exhibited morphological deformities such as gnarled spinal cords, and 1.2% had only one eye or no eyes at all (Fenn 2009). They also tested sturgeons TPT-free environment and found that there was a 0.66% morphology rate and no ocular deformities. A close relative of the Chinese sturgeons, Acipenser baerii, were exposed to TPT and results showed the same incidence as the Chinese sturgeons.
Not only does TPT affect the morphology of the sturgeons, it also causes reproduction complications. Banning of TPT will not fix the damage that has already been done because TPT takes a long time to breakdown. TPT will continue to cause damage to the sturgeons for years.
Citation Information
Fenn, Josh. 2009 “Toxin Is Accelerating Demise of Fossil Fish” ScienceNOW Daily News[Internet] Washington DC and Cambridge, UK: High Wire Press; 2009 [cited 2009 May 27]. Available from http://sciencenow.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/2009/527/4
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