美国科学家发现旧金山河口的污染物质持续影响着条纹鲈鱼幼鱼发育，之前曾发现这种鱼甚至在适合生存的环境中也会出现种群数量严重下降，最新发现可能能帮助寻找方法来应对其种群数量下降。相关研究论文发表在美国《国家科学院院刊》（PNAS）上。

加州大学David Ostrach及其同事强调，旧金山河口的诸如PCBs、DDT以及其他外源化学物质等人造污染物导致条纹鲈鱼幼鱼发育产生变化。

旧金山在1935年以前一直支持条纹鲈鱼的商业捕捞，之后该市的官员规定除非是钓鱼运动，否则不能捕捉这种鱼。在之后的40年中，这种鱼繁衍的很好。但是从20世纪70年代开始一直到今天，这种鱼的种群数量因为工业、农业和城市污染的原因而大幅度下降。

研究人员发现所有在河里捕捉到的鱼体内都含有生物显著水平的污染物。分析表明野生条纹鲈鱼幼鱼比对照组的幼鱼更瘦也更小。进一步的研究表明在河里捕捉到的幼鱼的大脑更小、肝脏发育反常，而且和对照组相比糖原耗尽，这意味着野生幼鱼用于寻找食物和躲避捕食者的能量更少。研究人员报告说，河口的雌鱼摄取并传给鱼卵的化合物可能是造成对幼鱼不利影响的原因。

推荐原始出处：

PNAS，doi:10.1073/pnas.0802616105，David J. Ostrach，Joe G. Zinkl

Maternal transfer of xenobiotics and effects on larval striped bass in the San Francisco Estuary

David J. Ostracha,b,1, Janine M. Low-Marchellic, Kai J. Edera, Shaleah J. Whitemanb, and Joe G. Zinklb

aJohn Muir Institute of the Environment, Center for Watershed Sciences, and
bDepartment of Pathology, Microbiology, and Immunology, School of Veterinary Medicine, University of California, One Shields Avenue, Davis, CA 95616; and
cDepartment of Pharmacology, University of California at San Diego, 9500 Gilman Drive, La Jolla, CA 92093
Edited by Dixon Landers, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Corvallis, OR, and accepted by the Editorial Board October 3, 2008 (received for review March 14, 2008)

Abstract

Aquatic ecosystems around the world face serious threats from anthropogenic contaminants. Results from 8 years of field and laboratory investigations indicate that sublethal contaminant exposure is occurring in the early life stages of striped bass in the San Francisco Estuary, a population in continual decline since its initial collapse during the 1970s. Biologically significant levels of polychlorinated biphenyls, polybrominated diphenyl ethers, and current-use/legacy pesticides were found in all egg samples from river-collected fish. Developmental changes previously unseen with standard methods were detected with a technique using the principles of unbiased stereology. Abnormal yolk utilization, brain and liver development, and overall growth were observed in larvae from river-collected fish. Histopathological analyses confirmed and identified developmental alterations. Using this methodology enabled us to present a conclusive line of evidence for the maternal transfer of xenobiotics and their adverse effects on larval striped bass in this estuary.