Fish Health

The Columbia Environmental Research Center’s Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substance (PFAS) team conducts research focusing on the occurrence, fate, and toxicity of PFAS compounds in aquatic and terrestrial systems. Laboratory capabilities include dedicated analytical instrumentation and experimental facilities to allow USGS scientists to analyze a wide range of sample types including water, sediment...

Fluorochemicals are a class of structurally diverse synthetic compounds that contain a carbon-fluorine backbone.

Summary of the published study: Exposure to 17α-ethinylestradiol results in differential susceptibility of largemouth bass (Micropterus salmoides) to bacterial infection (Leet et al. in review)

Effects-directed analysis (EDA) reverse-engineers environmental toxicity testing by measuring effects on cells first, and identifying the particular chemicals later. In this publication, we reviewed published information on EDA methods to improve future methods.

Early development is a sensitive window for estrogenic endocrine disruption in largemouth bass. Atrazine treatments caused changes to gene expression patterns that were both similar to estrogen and distinct from estrogen.

In the last few decades, thiamine deficiency has been observed in fish and wildlife in the Great Lakes, Alaska, Sweden and several other areas in North America and Europe. Thiamine is an essential vitamin needed for cell function. Thiamine deficiency has been linked to neurological disorders, immunosuppression, and lower reproductive viability. These disorders potentially reduce populations of...

CERC biologists focus on improving understanding of biomechanics of eggs, free embryos, and larvae through direct observation and measurement. An improved understanding of biomechanics – how biotic conditions and processes interact with physical processes to result in changes in survival – is necessary to create quantitative links between management actions and population-level results.

CERC fish biologists study migrations, reproductive cues, and spawning behaviors of reproductive wild and hatchery-origin pallid sturgeon (HOPS) in the Missouri River Basin.