Studies of toxicity effects of heavy metals on early life stages of fish: a review

The early life stages (ELSs) of aquatic organisms are particularly sensitive to both natural and anthropogenic stressors. ELS bioassays have widely been used as a cost-effective means to rapidly detect and monitor metal pollution in aquatic environments. Exposure to waterborne heavy metals during the ELSs of fish can result in inhibition of oogenesis and spermatogenesis processes, reduced fertilization success, chromosomal abnormalities, increased incidence of yolk membrane ruptures, reduced hatching success and survival, altered time to hatch, embryonic and larval teratogenicity, inhibited growth and abnormal larval behaviors. Previous studies have shown that heavy metals in dissolved and suspended particulate matters in the waters and sediments of fish spawning and nursery grounds in the offshore of China were overloaded in the past decades. Therefore, biological damage caused by heavy metals to their reproduction, development, survival, and growth have been considered potential risks for deterioration of the wild population. In this paper, studies of the toxicity effects on the ELS of fish were reviewed in order to help researchers better understand the progress in this research field.