or those treated with the alkanes or paraffin 

 components. Mortality was particularly en- 

 hanced by the presence of the tetracyclic aro- 

 matic chrysene even at half its normal concen- 

 tration in oil (0.2% in Kuwait crude oil and 

 0.5% in South Louisiana crude oil). 



Table3. Embryonic mortality in eggs of laughing gulls 



with breast feathers treated with 2.5 ml No. 2 fuel 



oil (King and Lefever unpubl). 



N=number of eggs recovered after 5 days of incuba- 

 tion. 



Significantly different from controls, P<0.01, x 2 test. 



EFFECTS OF OIL INGESTION ON PHYSI- 

 OLOGICAL CONDITION AND SURVIVAL 

 OF BIRDS 



In two 6-month studies, adult mallards 

 were fed South Louisiana crude oil (SLC) and 

 an artificial reconstituted aromatic mixture 

 (RAM) composed of 10 aromatic and 9 ali- 

 phatic compounds typical of those found in 

 South Louisiana crude oil. SLC was fed at 

 0.25% and 2.5% of the total diet and the RAM 

 was fed at 0.04% and 0.4% of the diet (levels 

 that represent the aromatic content of diets 

 containing 0.25% and 2.5% oil). Adult mallards 

 could realistically ingest these concentrations 

 of oil at spill sites. All birds maintained their 

 body weights and ingested contaminated food 

 at rates comparable to ingestion of clean food 

 by control animals. There was no mortality in 

 either study. Indocyanine green dye, a com- 

 pound that is metabolized by the liver, was used 



Table 4. Effects of South Louisiana crude oil on mallard duck embryos (Hoffman 1978). 



"Significantly different from control and paraffin-treated groups by yi, p-<0.01. 



*Mean +SD. 



^Significantly different by one-way analysis of variance (p<0.01) and the Duncan multiple range test (p<0.05). 



These included abnormal conjoined (1.6%) and stunted (3.2%) in the control group: hydrocephaly with micro- 

 phthalmia and beak defect (1.6%) and incomplete ossification of ribs and vertebrae (1.6%) in the paraffin group; 

 cervical vertebrae missing (2.4%) and incomplete ossification of sacral vertebrae (2.4%) in the 1-^1 of crude oil 

 group; incomplete ossification of the phalanges (16.7%); incomplete ossification of the ischium (16.7%), severe 

 edema with blisters (16.7%). and abnormal feather formation (16.7%) in the 5-pil of crude oil group. 



