Genotoxic, Histopathological and Oxidative Stress Responses in Catfish, Clarias gariepinus, Exposed to Two Antifouling Paints

Antifouling paints are enriched with biocides and employed in the maritime industry to protect moving and fixed surfaces from fouling activities of sea dwelling invertebrates. There is limited information on their effect on the non-target African catfish, Clarias gariepinus, a commonly consumed fish in Lagos. This study investigated the effects of two commonly used antifouling paints (Berger TBT-free (A/F783 (H)), reddish brown color and Silka Marine lead based paint, pale orange color) on a non-target catfish species, Clarias gariepinus. The study involved an initial 96-hour acute toxicity assay followed by chronic toxicity evaluation (using 1/10th and 1/100th 96-hour median lethal concentration (LC ) values) for 28 days to determine the ability of the paints to induce micronucleus and red blood cell abnormalities, and histopathological as well as oxidative stress effects in the catfish.Examined anti-oxidative stress enzyme activities include superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT), reduced glutathione (GSH) and glutathione-s-transferase (GST). Acute toxicity evaluation results indicated that the Berger paint was 16.1-times more toxic than Silka paint with 96-hour LC values of 0.71 mg/L and 11.49 mg/L, respectively. Results from the biochemical assay indicated significantly higher (P