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Fishery Bulletin 95(2), 1997 
or their interaction, could be important contributing 
factors to the observed changes in fecundity and egg 
weight. Although indicators of chemical contaminant 
exposure were not among the strongest predictors of 
fecundity and egg weight in the sole examined in this 
study, some significant associations were observed 
between tissue PCB and biliary FAC concentrations 
in individual fish and patterns of egg production. 
Elevated concentrations of PCB’s in liver or ovarian 
tissue, which were characteristic of fish from the 
Duwamish Waterway, were associated with reduced 
plasma ALP (vitellogenin) concentrations, as well as 
with production of more but smaller eggs. These data 
suggest that exposure to PCB’s might affect egg de- 
velopment, perhaps by inhibiting either the produc- 
tion or uptake of vitellogenin. However, reports of 
the effects of PCB’s on vitellogenin production in fish 
are somewhat inconsistent. In the larger set of fish 
sampled in our earlier study (Johnson et al., 1988), 
a correlation between elevated tissue PCB concen- 
trations and reduced plasma ALP in vitellogenic fish 
was also observed (n- 60, Spearman’s p=-0.30, 
P=0.023), as well as a tendency for plasma ALP con- 
centrations to be lower in fish from the Duwamish 
Waterway and Sinclair Inlet, although intersite differ- 
ences were less pronounced than in the smaller set of 
fish for which fecundity and egg weight determinations 
were performed. In other studies such compounds have 
proved to be estrogenic and have enhanced vitellogenin 
production in fish and reptiles (von der Decken et al., 
1992; Guillette et al., 1994) or have exerted little effect 
on plasma vitellogenin concentrations (Monosson et al., 
1994). The impact of PCB exposure on egg development 
might be better clarified through congener-specific 
analysis of PCB’s because the various coplanar and 
noncoplanar PCB congers present in complex PCB 
mixtures are known to differ in toxicity (Safe, 1990), as 
well as in their ability to enhance or inhibit vitellogenin 
synthesis (Anderson et al., 1996). Exposure to PAH’s 
also appeared to have some influence on egg develop- 
ment because we found that elevated biliary FAC-BaP 
levels were correlated with both increased atresia of 
yolked oocytes and a trend toward increased egg weight 
and lowered fecundity. Interestingly, atresia tended to 
be most prevalent and of greatest severity at Eagle 
Harbor, where biliary FAC concentrations in fish were 
particularly high. 
In earlier studies of reproductive function in English 
sole (Johnson et al., 1988), we observed reduced plasma 
estradiol concentrations in female fish from both Eagle 
Harbor and the Duwamish Waterway. These differences 
were partially associated with inhibited ovarian devel- 
opment in significant proportions of adult fish from 
these sites, but differences persisted even when only 
vitellogenic fish were examined. A similar trend was 
observed in the fish examined in this study, all of which 
were vitellogenic, although the intersite difference was 
statistically significant only for fish from the Duwamish 
Waterway. Depressed plasma estradiol concentrations 
tended to be associated with increased fecundity but 
were not strongly correlated with changes in egg 
production patterns. 
Nutritional status appeared to have a significant 
effect on fecundity in English sole because a strong 
correlation was found between condition factor and 
fecundity in fish from minimally to moderately con- 
taminated sites. Similar relationships between fe- 
cundity and food supply, condition factor, and other 
indicators of nutritional status have been observed 
in other fish species, including winter flounder (Tyler 
and Dunn, 1976), temperate and tropical clupeids 
(Hay and Brett, 1988; Milton et al., 1994), plaice 
(Horwood et al., 1986, 1989), and rainbow trout 
(Bromage et al., 1992). When sole from the contami- 
nated sites (Eagle Harbor and the Duwamish Wa- 
terway) were included in the analyses, additional 
nutrition-related factors showed correlations with 
fecundity in English sole. Of these factors, HSI 
showed a particularly strong relationship with fe- 
cundity and was significantly higher in Duwamish 
Waterway fish than in animals from the other sam- 
pling sites. Animals from the Duwamish Waterway 
also exhibited elevated plasma triglyceride levels, 
which, like increased HSI, appeared to be associated 
with production of more and smaller eggs. Milton et 
al. (1994) also observed production of more, but 
smaller, eggs in tropical clupeids with increased HSI, 
and interpreted the alteration in egg size and num- 
ber as a response to the good nutritional status of 
the female and a possible adaptation to environmen- 
tal conditions in which food was abundant. It is pos- 
sible that elevated HSI and plasma triglyceride lev- 
els in Duwamish Waterway fish could be related to 
favorable feeding conditions. Previous studies have, 
in fact, shown that benthic invertebrates such as 
mollusks and polychaetes, which form a significant 
proportion of the diet of English sole (Varanasi et 
al., 1989), are relatively abundant in the Duwamish 
Waterway (Malins et al., 1980, 1982). However, the 
Duwamish Waterway fish did not have a significantly 
higher mean condition factor than that of animals 
from the other sampling sites, and although plasma 
triglyceride concentrations showed some correlation 
with condition factor, HSI did not. Both HSI and 
plasma triglyceride concentrations, however, showed 
strong correlations with bioindicators of contaminant 
exposure. Increased HSI in association with expo- 
sure to toxicants, particularly agents that induce cell 
proliferation, is well documented in a number of fish 
species (Heath, 1987), and toxicant-related increases 
