Water quality monitoring using abnormal tail-beat frequency of crucian carp

• An analysis of tail beat frequency to detect responses of crucian carp to the toxins sodium hydroxide and glyphosate is proposed.
• The tail beat frequency of carp will increase after crucian carp is exposed to the toxins sodium hydroxide and glyphosate.
• The behavior alteration in exposed crucian carp is avoidance of areas of contamination.
• The tail beat frequency of carp can be used as a behavior indicator for accessing water quality.

Fish are rapidly becoming favored as convenient sentinels for behavioral assays of toxic chemical exposure. Tail-beat frequency (TBF) of fish is highly correlated with swimming speed, which has been used to detect toxicants. Here we examined the effect on TBF of exposure to two chemicals, and evaluated the ability of this novel behavioral parameter to accurately monitor water quality. To further refine our approach, the Wall-hitting rate (WHR) was used to characterize behavioral avoidance after exposure. Overall, exposure to test chemicals at different levels induced significant increase in both behavioral parameters of the red crucian carp during 1-h exposure periods. Furthermore, the TBF achieved better performance as an indicator when it was calculated in cases where the fish hit the tank wall. Collectively, this study demonstrates the capacity of the TBF of fish to assess water quality in a reliable manner.