Ultrastructural Biomarkers in Target Organs of Fish from Algeria Coastline to Access Water Quality

The chemical degradation of aquatic ecosystems enforces a worst health condition to aquatic organisms leading to the development of diseases. This study was conducted to assess subcellular disturbs in liver and gill of marine fish species European pilchard ( Sardina pilchardus ), Round sardinella ( Sardina aurita ) and the European anchovy ( Engraulis encrasicolus ) from Algerian coastline in Mediterranean Sea: Algiers, BouIsmail and Zemmouri Bays. The ultrastructural alterations were determined by Transmission and Scanning Electron Microscopy. The damages described to hepatocytes include nuclear and cytoplasmic disturbs or even cell death as apoptosis and necrosis. The most evident effects were the chromatin condensation, deformed nuclear envelope, cytoplasmic vacuolization, occurrence of lipid droplets, organelle degradation and disturbs in Disse’s space organization or sinusoids. In gills the effects were the loss of lamellar pattern, wrinkled epithelium, mucus overproduction or epithelial cells damages in primary and secondary lamellas. The subcellular effects in hepatocytes help to understand the source of pathologies in fish species from Argelia coastline, and to evaluate the risk of exposure to complex mixture of chemicals. Also, the alterations found in hepatocytes and gills raise concerns about the long-term exposure to micropollutants. Finally, the results reveal the fragility of the species exposed along Algeria coastline and reinforce the needs to establish conservation politics and pollution control on the studied bays.