DISTRIBUTION, ABUNDANCE, MORPHOLOGICAL CONDITION, AND CYTOGENETIC ABNORMALITIES OF LARVAL HERRING IN PRINCE-WILLIAM SOUND, ALASKA, FOLLOWING THE EXXON-VALDEZ OIL-SPILL

Pacific herring (Clupea pallasi) larvae were collected throughout Prin ce William Sound in May, June, and July following the Exxon Valdez oil spill of March 1989. Movement of herring larvae is related to current patterns within the sound, and deformed larvae were found both inside and outside of areas considered to be oiled. Herring may have been ex posed to oil as embryos in contaminated spawning areas and as larvae e ncountering the oil trajectory. Although it was impossible to estimate the effects of exposure to Exxon Valdez oil, many larvae exhibited sy mptoms associated with oil exposure in laboratory experiments and othe r oil spills. These included morphological malformations, genetic dama ge, and small size. Growth between May and June 1989 was the lowest ev er reported for field-caught larval herring. Jaw malformations and gen etic damage were highest in May and were elevated through the western area of Prince William Sound, which overlapped the oil trajectory. In June 1989,jaw development was normal, but genetic damage persisted. In contrast, in May 1995, jaw and cytogenetic development were normal an d significantly different from those in larvae in 1989.