Aquaculture America 2023

February 23 - 26, 2023

New Orleans, Louisiana USA

ECOGENOTOXICOLOICAL EFFECTS OF WATER POLLUTION ON Scamberomorus commerson AND ITS USE FOR EARLY TOXICITY SCREENING AND MONITORING IN THE ARABIA GULF, NEAR DAMMAM, SAUDI ARABIA

Shahid Mahboob*., Zubair Ahmed., Muhammad Farooq., Promy Virik., N. Al-Mulhim.

Department of Zoology, College of Science, King Saud University, Riyadh 11451, Saudi Arabia.

Presenting author: mushahid@ksu.edu.sa

 



The current research was planned to investigate genotoxicity in fish to screen and monitor the aquatic ecosystem. Scamberomorus commerson collected from the contaminated areas of the Arabian Gulf Near Dammam Saudi Arabia were analyzed for genotoxicity. DNA fragmentation was detected by Comet assay and Micronucleus assay. All water quality parameters and concentrations of heavy metals (Pb, Cr, Zn, Mn, Cu, Cd, Sn, and Hg) were extensively higher than the WHO permissible limits. They were more than enough to have adverse effects on fish health. Considering DNA damage as a biomarker of freshwater pollution, the highest DNA fragmentation was observed in Scamberomorus commerson, indicating its most heightened sensitivity to pollution. Scamberomorus commerson showed comet head diameters 63.33±2.2, 83.59±3.38, and 66.28±2.13px from RS1-RS3, respectively. Scamberomorus commerson erythrocytes showed comet tail lengths as 16.66±1.65, 16.20±1.63, and 19.07±1.81px from RS1-RS3. DNA damage was found to be 19.14±1.38, 16.38±1.26, and 19.95±1.33% from RS1-RS3, respectively. The tail moment was found to be 6.46±0.79, 4.72±0.69, and 7.14±1.08, while the olive moment was found to be 5.31±0.51, 5.14±0.52 and 6.01±0.49 respectively from RS1-RS3. Scamberomorus commerson collected from the polluted area of the Arabian Gulf exhibited the highest frequency for single micronucleus induction, double micronucleus induction, and nuclear abnormalities as 50.0±6.3‰, 14.4±2.5‰, and 15.0±2.9%, respectively. This study proposes that this fish species, along with these novel DNA damage assays, could be the best tools for toxicity screening and monitoring freshwater bodies.