Assessment of Toxicity of Two Drilling Fluids on the Early Development of Russian Sturgeon Acipenser gueldenstaedtii

I. I. Rudneva1,*, V. G. Shayda2, M. V. Medyankina3

1 Marine Hydrophysical Institute of RAS, Sevastopol, Russia

2 Company “EcoService-A”, Moscow, Russia

3 Moscow State University of Technology and Management K. G. Razumovsky (First Cossack University), Moscow, Russia

* e-mail: svg-41@mail.ru

Abstract

Early ontogenetic stages of aquatic organisms are most susceptible to the effects of pollutants. Drilling fluids are toxic for aquatic environment and can impair the growth, development and survival of aquatic organisms. The paper studies the effect of two water-based drilling fluids (WBF 1 and WBF 2) at concentrations of 0.025, 0.05, 0.1, 0.5 and 1 mg/L on the survival of fertilized eggs and prelarvae of Russian sturgeon Acipenser gueldenstaedtii as well as the dynamics of their hatching in fresh and 5‰ saline water for 5 days. The studied drilling fluids exhibited varying toxicity. The survival of embryos in the control groups in fresh water and exposed to a medium with WBF 1 at a concentration of 0.1–0.5 mg/L did not differ, but at a concentration of 1 mg/L, all the embryos died. In salt water, at WBF 1 concentrations of 0.025 mg/L and higher, a decrease in survival by 87% was observed (p < 0.01). WBF 2 did not affect the survival of the sturgeon embryos. In both control groups, larval hatching occurred on the first day, but embryos exposed to the medium with WBF 1 at a concentration of 0.025–0.5 mg/L hatched only on the second day. The number of prelarvae in the medium with all tested concentrations was less than in the control. At a concentration of 1 mg/L, prelarvae did not hatch. Significant differences in the survival rate of prelarvae in the experimental groups compared to the control were found at a WBF 1 concentration of 1 mg/L. A high positive correlation was established between the concentration of the toxicant and the mortality of fish prelarvae (R2 = 0.87). No differences were found between the survival rates of fish prelarvae in the control and experimental groups maintained in WBF 2. Based on these studies, it can be concluded that WBF 2 had no toxic effect on fish prelarvae at the tested concentrations and is therefore more environmentally safe than WBF 1. Fish embryos are adequate bioindicators for assessing the toxicity of drilling fluids and can be used to assess the ecological status of coastal waters in offshore oil and gas fields.

Keywords

drilling fluids, fish eggs, fish prelarvae, pollution, bioassay, Russian sturgeon, Acipenser gueldenstaedtii

Acknowledgments

The authors express their sincere gratitude to the employees of the Temryuk fish hatchery for providing experimental material, assistance and consultations in conducting experimental studies. The work was carried out with the financial support of EcoService-A LLC.

About the authors

Irina I. Rudneva, Leading Researcher, Marine Hydrophysical Institute of RAS (2 Kapitanskaya St., Sevastopol, 299011, Russia), DSc (Biol.), Professor, ORCID ID: 0000-0002-9623-9467, Scopus Author ID: 9266541700, ResearcherID: L-3758-2016, svg-41@mail.ru

Valentin G. Shaida, Researcher Engineer, Company “EcoService-A” (17A Verkhnyaya Krasnoselskaya Str., Bldg. 1Б, Of. 8, Moscow, 107140, Russia)

Maria V. Medyankina, Associate Professor, Ecology and Nature Use Chair of Department of Biotechnologies and Fisheries, Moscow State University of Technology and Management K. G. Razumovsky (First Cossack University) (14 Shabolovskaya Str., Bldg. 9, Moscow, 119049, Russia), PhD (Biol.), ORCID ID: 0000-0002-9195-0399, mediankina@mail.ru

For citation

Rudneva, I.I., Shayda, V.G. and Medyankina, M.V., 2026. Assessment of Toxicity of Two Drilling Fluids on the Early Development of Russian Sturgeon Acipenser gueldenstaedtii. Ecological Safety of Coastal and Shelf Zones of Sea, (3), pp. 125–138.

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