Variações na estrutura populacional e biomarcadores histológicos em Mugil curema (Pisces, Mugilidae) e Haemulon aurolineatum (Pisces, Haemulidae) para avaliação de impactos do derramamento de óleo em Pernambuco (Brasil)

Abstract

The everyday exploration, extraction, and transportation of oil and its byproducts can cause severe harm to aquatic biota as well as environmental contamination. The first chapter, therefore, examines the detrimental effects of acute exposure to oil spills on histology indicators, such as fish gills and livers. The gills exhibited a predominance of hyperplasia, hypertrophy, aneurysms, hyperemia, hemorrhage, edema, inflammation, lamellar epithelium lifting, and fusing. While steatosis, necrosis, parasite presence, neoplasms, and inflammatory foci were the most common conditions in the liver tissue. In August 2019, large amounts of crude oil were discovered in Brazil, not least on the coast of Pernambuco, affecting several coastal species important for fishing. Thus, the second chapter sought to investigate the health of the Mugil curema and Haemulon aurolineatum populations following the accident. Between October 2020 and November 2021, 97 fish of both species were collected in Itapissuma, Ilha de Itamaracá, and Goiana for further histopathological analysis and determination of somatic indexes. The histopathological analyses revealed an expressive occurrence of pathologies in the livers and gills of Mugil curema and Haemulon aurolineatum, the somatic indexes revealed that the Mugil curema's livers were more compromised, and the gills of both species had normal to slight tissue changes levels, and there was no difference (p> 0.05) between the livers and gills of adults and juveniles for the two species as per the studies. The data obtained indicate that the health of the fishes is compromised, so the pathologies discovered in the biomonitoring works reviewed in the first chapter confirm the occurrence of the pathologies observed in the livers and gills of Mugil curema and Haemulon aurolineatum, which are possibly related to oil contamination.