An innovative classification system for ranking the biological effects of marine aromatic hydrocarbons based on fish embryotoxicity

Petroleum hydrocarbon pollution is a global concern, particularly in coastal environments. Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are regarded as the most toxic components of petroleum hydrocarbons. In this study, the biomonitoring and ranking effects of petroleum hydrocarbons and PAHs on the marine fish model Oryzias melastigma embryos were determined in the Jiulong River Estuary (JRE) and its adjacent waters in China. The results showed that the levels of petroleum hydrocarbons from almost all sites met the primary standard for marine seawater quality, and the concentrations of the 16 priority PAHs in the surface seawater were lower compared with those in other coastal areas worldwide. A new fish expert system based on the embryotoxicity of O. melastigma (OME-FES) was developed and applied in the field to evaluate the biological effects of petroleum hydrocarbons and PAHs. The selected physiological index and molecular indicators in OME-FES were appropriate biomarkers for indicating the harmful effects of petroleum hydrocarbons and PAHs. The outcome of OME-FES revealed that the biological effect levels of the sampling sites ranged from level I (no stress) to level III (medium stress), which is further corroborated by the findings of nested analysis of variance (ANOVA) models. Our results suggest that the OME-FES is an effective tool for evaluating and ranking the biological effects of marine petroleum hydrocarbons and PAHs. This method may also be applied to evaluate other marine pollutants based on its framework.