SINDERMANN: POLLUTION-ASSOCIATED DISEASES AND ABNORMALITIES 



1887, and Bonnet mentioned thyroid hyperplasia 

 in fish due to iodine deficiency in 1883). 



Circumstantial evidence associating environ- 

 mental contamination with neoplasms (tumors) in 

 fish has accumulated from a number of studies: 



1. Lucke and Schlumberger (1941) described 

 166 catfish (Ameiurus nebulosus) with 

 epitheliomas of lips and mouth, taken from 

 the Delaware and Schuylkill Rivers near 

 Philadelphia. The rivers were grossly pol- 

 luted. Tumors of this type may result from 

 mechanical, infectious, or chemical irrita- 

 tion. Catfish from other areas did not have a 

 high prevalence of tumors. The authors did 

 not exclude the possibility that the lesions 

 were induced by chemical carcinogens in the 

 water. The lesions developed into epidermoid 

 carcinomas, some of which were invasive. 



2. Russell and Kotin (1957) found 10 of 353 

 white croakers, Genyonemus lineatus, from 

 Santa Monica Bay, Calif., with papillomas of 

 lips and mouth. Fish were taken 2 m from an 

 ocean outfall. No tumors were found in 1,116 

 croakers from unspecified nonpolluted wa- 

 ters 70 km away. 



3. Cauliflower disease (epidermal papilloma) 

 has been increasing in prevalence in eels 

 (Anguilla anguilla) from the Baltic since 

 1957. The pattern of spread and high preva- 

 lence indicates an infectious process (viral 

 arrays have been seen) or progressive ac- 

 cumulation of industrial contaminants such 

 as fuel oil and smelter wastes (known to con- 

 tain carcinogenic hydrocarbons such as ben- 

 zopyrene and heavy metals such as arsenic). 



4. Cooper and Keller ( 1969) reported that 12'7f 

 of nearly 16,000 English sole from San Fran- 

 cisco Bay had epidermal papillomas, with as 

 many as 33 tumors per fish. Incidence of 

 tumorous fish in the northern part of the Bay 

 was twice that in the southern part. The 

 greatest concentration of industrial waste 

 discharge, especially petrochemicals, existed 

 in the northern part of the Bay. A later sur- 

 vey (Kelly 1971) failed to confirm the areal 

 difference in tumor abundance. 



5. Young (1964) found many small (10-15 cm) 

 Dover sole from Santa Monica Bay with 

 tumors. Fish above 15 cm did not have 

 tumors. According to Young, numerous 

 white croakers from Santa Monica and Los 

 Angeles-Long Beach were found with papil- 



lomas of the lips, and papillomas were ob- 

 served on tongue soles, cusk eels, and Pacific 

 sanddabs. Such tumors were not seen by 

 Young on fish from unpolluted areas, but 

 Dover sole with epidermal papillomas have 

 since been collected off Baja California as far 

 south as Cedros Island (Sherwood and 

 Mearns 1976). The prevalence of lip tumors 

 in white croakers from Santa Monica and the 

 Palos Verdes shelf has been <¥'/< since 1970 

 (Mearns and Sherwood 1977). 



6. Carlisle (1969) found "growths" frequent on 

 white croakers and Dover sole from Santa 

 Monica. 



7. Sindermann (1976) found wartlike tumors 

 histologically resembling fibromas in Mugil 

 cephalus from Biscayne Bay in 1969-70 (Fig- 

 ure 7). Other fibrous tumors have been re- 

 ported since then by Lightner (1974) and 

 Edwards and Overstreet (1976) in mullet 

 from the Gulf of Mexico. 



From the foregoing, it is apparent that much 

 attention has been given, and continues to be giv- 

 en; to the common occurrence of epidermal papil- 

 lomas in a number of Pacific flatfishes ( Wellings et 

 al. 1964, 1965; Wellings 1969a, b). The tumors of 

 English sole from the Pacific coast, for example, 

 have been studied for almost half a century (Pacis 

 1932; McArn et al. 1968; Good 1940; Angell et al. 

 1975). Stich et al. (1976) in their review offish 

 tumors and sublethal effects of pollutants, found 

 highest prevalences to occur in young-of the-year 

 fish. Maximum prevalences reported in the litera- 

 ture were 587c in English sole (Stich and Acton 

 1976); 55^7^ in starry flounder (McArn and Wel- 

 lings 1971); 15% in Ratheadsole, Hippoglossoides 

 elassodon (Miller and Wellings 1971); and over 

 40'7f in sand sole, Psettichthys melanostictus (Nig- 

 relli et al. 1965). A relationship of high frequen- 

 cies of such papillomas with coastal pollution is 

 still uncertain. Stich et al. (1976) stated "There 

 seems to be a higher skin tumor frequency among 

 English sole inhabiting areas of urban contamina- 

 tion (Vancouver) than among fish populations in 

 regions remote from human activities . . . ." 



In an extension of this study, Stich et al. (1977) 

 reported prevalences of skin neoplasms in 1-yr-old 

 English sole of from 20 to 70% in samples taken 

 near eight cities on the Pacific coast, while preva- 

 lences did not exceed 0.17c in several samples 

 taken on the British Columbia coast more distant 

 from cities. However, Oishi et al. (1976) examin- 



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