Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-v5vhk Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-07-07T13:19:30.414Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Preliminary Observations on the Relative Importance of the various Factors Responsible for the Death of Fishes in Polluted Waters

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 May 2009

Hem Singh Pruthi
Hem Singh Pruthi
Affiliation:
Assist. Supt.Zoological Survey of India; Fellow, International Education Board.
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

With the growth of modern, industry the problem of the influence of polluted waters on the bionomics of fishes is becoming very important. Fortunately, biologists anticipated this and many works on the subject have appeared, especially during the last twenty-five years. The polluting substances can be divided into two main classes, namely, (i) those that are directly poisonous to organisms, e.g. gas liquor, sulphites, oils, etc., and (ii) those that give rise to poisonous substances or otherwise make the water undesirable after putrefying, e.g. organic matter in solution and the decomposing bodies of plants and animals. The substances in the first category act in a relatively straightforward manner, and numerous investigators have studied them from several aspects (Shelford, '17; Matthews, '04; Powers, Wells, '15, etc.); it is with regard to those in the second class that many questions are yet unsettled and the present communication deals. We roughly know that the effect of the putrefying substances is to increase the hydrogen ion concentration and decrease the oxygen content of water. It has also been suggested that the byproducts of putrefaction themselves may be poisonous to animals.

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom , Volume 14 , Issue 3 , March 1927 , pp. 729 - 739
Copyright
Copyright © Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom 1927

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

LITERATURE

Birge, E. A., and Juday, C. The Inland Lakes of Wisconsin. The dissolved gases of the water and their biological significance. Wisconsin Surv. Bulletin XXII, Madison, Wis. 1911.Google Scholar
Chidester, A. M.A critical examination of the evidence for physical and chemical influences on fish migration. Brit. Journ. Exper. Biology, II, p. 79. 1924.Google Scholar
Coker, R. E.Observations of hydrogen ion concentration in waters tributary to Catawba River. North Carolina. 1923.Google Scholar
Cole, A. E.Oxygen supply of certain animals living in water containing no dissolved oxygen. Journ. Exper. Zoo., 33, p. 292. 1921.Google Scholar
Cole, A. E.Physiological Studies on freshwater clams. Carbon-dioxide production in low oxygen tensions. Journ. Exper. Zoo., 45, p. 349. 1921.Google Scholar
Jacobs, M. H.To what extent are the physiological effects of carbon dioxide due to hydrogen ions? Amer. Journ. Physiol., 51, p. 321. 1920.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jewell, M. E., and Brown, H.The fishes of an acid lake. Trans. Amer. Microscopical Soc., 43, p. 77. 1924.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Knauthe, K.Das Susswasser. Neudamm. 1907.Google Scholar
Knight, A. P. The effects of polluted waters on fish life. Contributions to Canadian Biology. Suppl. 32nd Annual Report Dept. of Marine and Fisheries, Ottawa. 1901.Google Scholar
Marsh, M. C.House Document, Vol. 64, U.S. Geol. Survey Water Supply and Irrigation Papers, No. 192, pp. 337–349.Google Scholar
Marsh, M. C.Notes on the dissolved content of water in its effect upon fishes. Bull. Bureau Fisheries, 28, p. 893. 1908.Google Scholar
Matthews, A. P.The relation between solution-tension, atomic volume, and the physiological action of the elements. Amer. Journ. Physiol., 10, p. 290. 1904.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Powers, E. B.Experiments and observations on the behaviour of marine fishes toward hydrogen ion concentration of the sea water in relation to their migratory movements and habits. Publ. Puget Sound Biol. Station, 3, p. 1. 1921.Google Scholar
Reddie, J. A.Journ. Soc. Chem. Ind., 1923, p. 326T.Google Scholar
Roberts, C. H.Oil Pollution. Journ. Conseil Internat. pour Exploration de la mer, I, p. 245. 1926.Google Scholar
Roule, L.Observations comparative sur la proportion d'oxygène dissous dans les eaux d'un étang littoral (Étang de Thau) et dans les eaux marine littorales, et sur ces conséquences quant á la biologie des espèces migratrices des Poissons. C.R. Soc. Biol., 79, p. 434. 1916.Google Scholar
Shelford, V. E., and Allee, W. C.The reaction of fishes to gradients of dissolved atmospheric gases. Journ. Exper. Zoo., New Series 14, p. 207. 1913.Google Scholar
Shelford, V. E.An experimental study of the effects of gas waste upon fishes, with special reference to stream pollution. Bull. Ill. State Lab. Nat. Hist., 11, p. 381. 1917.Google Scholar
Shelford, V. E.Ways and means of measuring the dangers of pollution to fisheries. Bull Ill. State Lab. Nat. Hist., 13, p. 25. 1918.Google Scholar
Shelford, V. E.The relation of marine fishes to acids with particular reference to the Miles Acid Process of sewage treatment. Publ. Puget Sound Biol. Station, 2, p. 97. 1918.Google Scholar
Singh, Pruthi H.Brit. Journ. Exp. Biol., 4 (in press).Google Scholar
SinghPruthi, H. Pruthi, H.The ability of fishes to extract oxygen at different hydrogen ion concentrations of the medium. Journ. Mar. Biol. Assoc., Vol. XIV, N.S., No. 3, 1927.Google Scholar
Suter, and Moore, . Stream pollution studies. New York State Conservation Commission. 1922.Google Scholar
Wells, M. M.The resistance of fishes to different concentrations and combinations of carbon dioxide and oxygen. Biol. Bull., 25, pp. 323–347. 1913.Google Scholar
Wells, M. M.The reactions and resistance of fishes in their natural environment to salts. Journ. Experml. Zoo., 19, pp. 243–283. 1915.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wells, M. M.The reactions and resistance of fishes in their natural environment to acidity, alkalinity, and neutrality. Biol. Bull. 29, pp. 221–257. 1915.Google Scholar
Wells, M. M.The reaction and resistance of fishes to carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide. Bull. Ill. State Lab. Nat. Hist., 11, p. 557. 1918.Google Scholar
Wundsch, H. H.Die reinhaltung unserer Fishgewässer. Handbuch der Binnenfischerei Mitteleuropas, 6, pp. 139–221. 1926.Google Scholar