Reproductive Disruption in Wild Longear Sunfish (Lepomis megalotis) Exposed to Kraft Mill Effluent

Worldwide, wild fish living in rivers receiving municipal and industrial discharges may experience endocrine disruption as a result of exposure to anthropogenic pollutants. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the hormonal status of wild fish in a U.S. river receiving unbleached kraft and recycled pulp mill effluent (Pearl River at Bogalusa, LA). We evaluated two alternative hypotheses: the effluent contained constituents that suppressed male and female reproduction, or it contained an androgenic substance that masculinized females. To evaluate the likelihood of fish exposure to effluent, we marked 697 longear sunfish (Lepomis megalotis) over a 2-year period; 83% of recaptured fish were found at the site of initial capture, and only one fish migrated from an effluent-receiving site to a reference site. We can reasonably assume that fish captured from an effluent-receiving site are residents, not transitory migrants. To diagnose endocrine disruption, we measured sex steroid hormone [17β-estradiol (E(2)), testosterone (T), and 11-ketotestosterone (11KT)] and vitellogenin (VTG) concentrations in male and female longear sunfish captured at two sites upstream and two sites downstream of the effluent outfall. Kraft pulp mill effluent did not affect male reproductive physiology but did suppress female T and VTG levels when effluent constituted ≥ 1% of river flow. Masculinization was not observed. Longear sunfish in the Pearl River experience moderate reproductive suppression in response to unbleached kraft and recycled pulp mill effluent.