FISHERY BULLETIN: VOL. 71, NO. 4 



ment began. Fry began swimming erratically, 

 moving jerkily and. unlike untreated fry, swam 

 on or near the bottom of the tank, sometimes 

 upside down. Within a week all fry died. After 1 

 wk, fry in the 100-ppb treatment tanks began 

 showing similar signs. Mortality reached 100% 

 after 2 wk. 



Asymmetry data are presented in Table 1. 

 Grunion from Bahia San Quintin have the lowest 

 variance of all groups examined. Fish from Del 

 Mar and Belmont Shore, as well as the Control 

 0.001 and 0.01 fish, have intermediate variances 

 (the 0.01-ppb sample should perhaps be elimi- 

 nated because of its small size). Slightly greater 

 variances are found in the 0.1-, 0.4-, and 0.7-ppb 

 treatments. Finally, the 1- and 10-ppb treat- 

 ment fish have the highest variances. It should 

 also be pointed out that while the progression of 

 asymmetry variances for p,p'-DDT-treated fish 

 in the flowing water experiments is not perfect, 

 the trend is statistically significant. Applying 

 the Tau coefficient (Sokal and Rohlf. 1969) to 

 these data (Control through 10-ppb treatment) 

 yields 0.05 > P > 0.02. 



Comparing the Vq values for fry from Bel- 

 mont Shore and Bahia San Quintin with the Vq 

 values for adult fish (from data presented by 

 Valentine. Soule and Samollow, 1973) indicates 

 that the ratio of asymmetry for adults is nearly 

 the same as it is for fry (Table 2). 



mont Shore grunion contain almost twice as 

 much DDT as do La Jolla Shores grunion: 

 Belmont Shore females 2.45 ppm ± 0.97, 

 N = 5; La Jolla Shores females 1.40 ± 0.77, 

 N — 2 (values on a whole body, wet weight 

 basis, and include all isomers and metabolic pro- 

 ducts). DDT values reported here for Belmont 

 Shore fish were obtained from specimens caught 

 during the first grunion run of the season, 

 whereas the experimental eggs were collected 

 almost 6 wk later, from the third run. 



Circumstantial evidence supports the hypo- 

 thesis that eggs spawned early in the season 

 have relatively high levels of DDT. Walker (1952) 

 states that older fish spawn first. If larger fish 

 have higher body burdens of DDT than smaller 

 fish, then eggs spawned by large fish might 

 have more DDT. Alternatively, if the amount of 

 DDT deposited in eggs is a constant proportion 

 of the amount of DDT in the female body, then 

 the first spawn would contain more DDT in 

 absolute terms than the later spawns. We lay 

 some stress on these possibilities because of our 

 enigmatic observation that eggs from the first 

 Belmont Shore run all failed to hatch, dying at 

 an advanced stage of development. 



If DDT increases asymmetry, then the low 

 Vq values for grunion fry from Bahia San 

 Quintin might be attributed to low adult and 

 egg DDT burdens. Although we have no data 



Table 2. — Comparison of pectoral fin ray V^ values for experimental and wild- 

 caught grunion. 



DISCUSSION 



Egg and Adult DDT Burdens 



We have measured the chlorinated hydro- 

 carbon body burdens of several wild-caught 

 grunion. These data will be published in a later 

 paper and are here offered only for comparative 

 purposes. Our small sample suggests that Bel- 



on pesticides concentrations in adult grunion 

 from Bahia San Quintin, we have gathered such 

 data in barred sand bass. Paralabrax nehulifer 

 (pertinent life history data for this species are 

 given in Valentine, Soule, and Samollow, 1973). 

 DDT concentrations in barred sand bass from 

 Bahia San Quintin are 0.199 ± 0.038 ppm {N = 

 16), from San Diego. 2. 150 ± 0.184 ppm (N= 28), 

 a difference of roughly an order of magnitude. 



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