• Journal of Advanced Marine Engineering and Technology
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• v.27 no.6
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• pp.687-695
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• 2003

• Korean Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
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• v.47 no.6
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• pp.1006-1013
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• 2014

Wastewater organic compounds, that is, nonylphenolic compounds (NPs) and fecal sterols, were measured in surface sediments from Busan Suyeong Estuary, where two wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) are located, to assess contamination from municipal effluents. The NPs analyzed were nonylphenol, and nonylphenol mono- and di-ethoxylates, all synthetic endocrine disruptors. The fecal sterols analyzed were coprostanol (COP), cholestanol, and epicoprostanol. Concentrations of NPs in the sediments ranged from 146 to 3,723 ng/g, and those of COP ranged from 366 to 13,018 ng/g. Their detection in all of the sediments analyzed indicates widespread pollution by municipal effluents. The highest concentrations of NPs and COP were detected at stations close to outfalls of WWTPs. Their levels in sediments are categorized in the higher range of those previously reported in Korean coastal areas. Moreover, in comparison with screening values of NPs in the Netherlands, Norway, and Canada, more than 50% of the sampling stations exceeded the guidelines. This indicates that the estuary may be adversely influenced by municipal effluents.

• Korean Journal of Environmental Biology
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• v.23 no.3 s.59
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• pp.293-303
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• 2005

Japanese medaka, Oryzias latipes is widely distributed in the North East Asia including Korea, Japan and east China, and commonly used for freshwater toxicity tests and cytotoxicological studies worldwide. In this study, a series of experiments were conducted to identify the potential of the fish as a standard test species for saltwater toxicity evaluation such as marine receiving waters, ocean-dumped materials and sediment pore waters etc. Hatching, growth and mortality rates of the fish were estimated with the wide ranges of salinity from freshwater to seawater (35 psu). Direct exposure of the fertilized eggs in freshwater to the wide ranges of salinity (from 0 to 35 psu) without pre- acclimation to the saltwater revealed no significant differences in hatching rates by salinities (p =0.24). On the other hand, medaka larvae hatched in freshwater and exposed to saltwater directly showed high mortality at > 25 psu treatment groups (p < 0.0001). However, there was no significant difference in mortality of medaka larvae hatched in 13.8 and 14.2 psu at the wide ranges of salinities ($0\~35$ psu). Growth rates of medaka larvae hatched in the above two salinities showed no differences in body length either from 0 to 35 psu treatment groups (p =0.64 for 13.8 psu group and p=0.32 for 14.2 psu group). The number of gill chloride cell in medaka larvae sharply increased when the larvae were exposed to high salinity. Reference tests with zinc chloride revealed 96h $LC_{50}=8.84(7.19\~10.87)mg\;L^{-1}$ using 7~10 day old medaka larvae. These were comparable or better sensitivity in comparison with the other standard test species such as North American sheepshead minnow Cyprinodon variegatus. Based on the results of these experiments, hatching rates and larvalmortality of medaka must be good toxicity parameters for seawater bioassay and the species seems to be a good standard species for both the freshwater and seawater toxicity test.

• Korean Journal of Environmental Biology
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• v.32 no.4
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• pp.311-318
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• 2014

PFOS (perfluorooctane sulfonate) is one of the perflourinated organic compound, which persist as a residual compound in the coastal environments. Intertidal mud crab Macrophthalmus japonicus mainly inhabits in coastal and bay ecosystems in Indo-Pacific region including Korea and reflects to environmental changes. In the present study, M. japonicus were exposed to different concentrations of PFOS and various ecotoxicological end-points such as survival rate, elimination of appendages, changes of the crust and internal organ color changes were investigated. Interestingly, the PFOS exposure showed concentration-dependent decrease of survival rate. High PFOS exposure ($30{\mu}gL^{-1}$) showed a low survival rate of 24% at 168 hours. Further, in comparison with the controls, the rate of elimination of appendages was also considerably increased in a time dependent manner upon PFOS exposure. Notably, with progression of time, an increased exposure to PFOS, test species showed whitening effect in a concentration-dependent manner, whereas the crab crust color was unchanged in the control. In addition, change in internal organs color and their visibility (clarity) observed in PFOS exposed crabs compared to control. Taken together, we suggest, eco-toxicology end-points of M. japonicus exposed to PFOS gave important biological information which could be useful to identify toxic contamination in the marine benthic environments.