Effects of Toxic Contaminants on Fish Behaviours

A special issue of Toxics (ISSN 2305-6304). This special issue belongs to the section "Ecotoxicology".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 10 February 2026 | Viewed by 545

Special Issue Editor


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Guest Editor
College of Life Sciences, Hainan Normal University, Haikou 571158, China
Interests: ecotoxicology; aquatic toxicology; developmental toxicity; neurotoxicity; behaviour disruption; reproduction toxicity; fish models; organic pollutants; endocrine disrupting chemicals; emerging contaminants; molecular mechanisms of emerging pollutants
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Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Aquatic ecosystems are under threat from a wide range of environmental pollutants. Fishes, as important components of aquatic ecosystems, are critical to maintaining their stability and sustainability. However, fishes are extremely sensitive to these environmental pollutants, especially their behaviours, including but not limited to cognitive, social, reproductive, predatory and antipredatory, sensorimotor, and emotional disorders. Therefore, there is a need for a better understanding of the effects of environmental contaminants on the behaviours of fishes.

To this end, we seek manuscripts that will contribute to new insights, basic research, and analyses on the effects of environmental pollutants on fish behaviours for this Special Issue. Environmental contaminants include, but are not limited to, heavy metals, persistent pollutants (POPs), PPCPs, and other emerging toxic pollutants. We also focus on strategies for fishes to overcome the adverse effects of these environmental pollutants.

Authors are invited to submit original research papers, reviews, and short communications.

Dr. Jiliang Zhang
Guest Editor

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Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • behaviour
  • pollutant
  • fish
  • nervous system
  • ecotoxicology

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Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

13 pages, 933 KiB  
Article
Accumulation Patterns and Health Risk Assessment of Trace Elements in Intermuscular Bone-Free Crucian Carp
by Shizhan Tang, Na Li, Zhipeng Sun, Ting Yan, Tingting Zhang, Huan Xu, Zhongxiang Chen, Dongli Qin and Youyi Kuang
Toxics 2025, 13(7), 595; https://doi.org/10.3390/toxics13070595 - 16 Jul 2025
Viewed by 259
Abstract
This study investigated the accumulation characteristics and associated health risks of 11 trace elements (Al, Rb, Cr, Ni, Mo, Sr, Pb, Ba, Ag, As, and Ga) in four crucian carp varieties: gene-edited intermuscular bone-free crucian carp (Carassius auratus, WUCI) and its sibling [...] Read more.
This study investigated the accumulation characteristics and associated health risks of 11 trace elements (Al, Rb, Cr, Ni, Mo, Sr, Pb, Ba, Ag, As, and Ga) in four crucian carp varieties: gene-edited intermuscular bone-free crucian carp (Carassius auratus, WUCI) and its sibling wild-type (Carassius auratus, WT), Fangzheng silver crucian carp (Carassius gibelio var Fangzheng, FZYJ), and Songpu silver crucian carp (Carassius gibelio var Songpu, SPYJ). Results showed that Al and Rb were the most abundant elements across all groups. WUCI exhibited distinct accumulation patterns, including significantly higher hepatic Mo concentrations (0.265 ± 0.032 mg/kg) and muscle/liver Rb levels (muscle: 8.74 ± 1.21 mg/kg; liver: 12.56 ± 2.05 mg/kg) compared to other varieties (p < 0.05), which supports the hypothesis of genotype-specific differences in heavy metal accumulation. Correlation analysis revealed that WUCI exhibited similar elemental interactions with WT and SPYJ (e.g., Al-Ni positive correlation, |rs| ≥ 0.8), while SPYJ displayed distinct patterns with fifteen negative correlations compared to three to five in others varieties, suggesting a potential alteration in elemental homeostasis. Pollution index (Pi) assessments indicated mild contamination for Pb in SPYJ liver (Pi = 0.265) and Cr/As in WUCI muscle (Pi = 0.247/0.218). Despite these values, all hazard indices remained below the established safety thresholds (THQ < 0.1, HI < 0.25, TCR < 10−6), reinforcing the overall safety of the tested fish. Notably, muscle As levels (0.86 ± 0.15 mg/kg) exceeded hepatic concentrations (0.52 ± 0.09 mg/kg), potentially due to differential detoxification mechanisms. These findings demonstrate the food safety of all tested varieties, while highlighting genotype-specific metabolic adaptations, providing critical data for evaluating gene edited aquatic products. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Effects of Toxic Contaminants on Fish Behaviours)
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