Effects of Temperature in Juvenile Seabass (Dicentrarchus labrax L.) Biomarker Responses and Behaviour: Implications for Environmental Monitoring

The effects of temperature on European seabass (Dicentrarchus labrax L.) juveniles were investigated using a 30-day bioassay carried out at 18 and 25 degrees C in laboratory conditions. A multiparameter approach was applied including fish swimming velocity and several biochemical parameters involved in important physiological functions. Fish exposed for four weeks to 25 degrees C showed a decreased swimming capacity, concomitant with increased oxidative stress (increased catalase and glutathione peroxidase activities) and damage (increased lipid peroxidation levels), increased activity of an enzyme involved in energy production through the aerobic pathway (isocitrate dehydrogenase) and increased activities of brain and muscle cholinesterases (neurotransmission) compared to fish kept at 18 degrees C. Globally, these findings indicate that basic functions, essential for juvenile seabass surviving and well performing in the wild, such as predation, predator avoidance, neurofunction and ability to face chemical stress may be compromised with increasing water temperature. This may be of particular concern if D. labrax recruitment phase in northwest European estuaries and coastal areas happens gradually in more warm environments as a consequence of global warming. Considering that the selected endpoints are generally applied in monitoring studies with different species, these findings also highlight the need of more research, including interdisciplinary and multiparameter approaches, on the impacts of temperature on marine species, and stress the importance of considering scenarios of temperature increase in environmental monitoring and in marine ecological risk assessment.