Muscular cholinesterase and lactate dehydrogenase activities in deep-sea fish from the NW Mediterranean

• AChE experienced little seasonal variations but was fish size-dependent.
• LDH seasonal variations were related to fish sex and reproductive status.
• Lepidion lepidion and Coelorinchus mediterraneus could be sentinels of the deep-sea environment.
• Biomarkers did not suggest a differential stress situation in or outside the canyon.

Organisms inhabiting submarine canyons can be potentially exposed to higher inputs of anthropogenic chemicals than their counterparts from the adjacent areas. To find out to what extend this observation applies to a NW Mediterranean canyon (i.e. Blanes canyon) off the Catalan coast, four deep-sea fish species were collected from inside the canyon (BC) and the adjacent open slope (OS). The selected species were: Alepocephalus rostratus, Lepidion lepidion, Coelorinchus mediterraneus and Bathypterois mediterraneus. Prior to the choice of an adequate sentinel species, the natural variation of the selected parameters (biomarkers) in relation to factors such as size, sex, sampling depth and seasonality need to be characterised. In this study, the activities of cholinesterases (ChEs) and lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) enzymes were determined in the muscle of the four deep-sea fish. Of all ChEs, acetylcholinesterase (AChE) activity was dominant and selected for further monitoring. Overall, AChE activity exhibited a significant relationship with fish size whereas LDH activity was mostly dependent on the sex and gonadal development status, although in a species-dependent manner. The seasonal variability of LDH activity was more marked than for AChE activity, and inside-outside canyon (BC–OS) differences were not consistent in all contrasted fish species, and in fact they were more dependent on biological traits. Thus, they did not suggest a differential stress condition between sites inside and outside the canyon.