Single and joint action toxicity of heavy metals on early developmental stages of Chinese rare minnow (Gobiocypris rarus)

In this work, acute toxicities of heavy metals (Cu, Zn and Cd) were evaluated singly or in mixtures on Chinese rare minnow (Gobiocypris rarus) in its early stages of development (embryos, larvae). Normal embryos not later than 3 h post-fertilization and newly hatched larvae were selected for the tests. The embryos were exposed to the metal solutions studied until developing to the stages of somite formation (15 h), tail detachment (25 h 10 min), heart-beat visible (34 h 10 min), pectoral fin bud appearance (47 h 40 min) and hatching (75 h), respectively. Exposures of the larvae were continued for 24 h. Results from the single toxicity tests revealed that the mortality of embryos increases obviously with increasing exposure duration. G. rarus appears to be more sensitive to heavy metal exposures at larval stage than at embryonic stage. The toxicity order of the tested metals was Cu>Cd>Zn for the embryos and Cu>Zn>Cd for the larvae with LC50 as the toxicity criterion. These data suggest that the sensitivity of G. rarus to heavy metals (Cu, Zn and Cd) is different and it depends on the exposition duration and the stages of fish development. Among the metals tested, Cu is the one most toxic to G. rarus at its early development stages. In addition, results of the mixture experiments showed that binary combinations of Cu–Zn and Cu–Cd had strictly synergistic lethal effects on the larvae. The enhanced toxicity suggested inclusion of mixture considerations in the risk assessment of heavy metals might be recommended.

► Single and joint toxicity of Cu, Zn and Cd to embryos and larvae of rare minnow was investigated.
► Toxicity investigations on embryos were performed during different developmental stages.
► Mortality of embryos increased obviously with the increasing exposure duration.
► Cu was the metal most toxic to rare minnow at its early development stages.
► Cu enhanced the lethal toxicity of Zn and Cd to the larvae of rare minnow.