Effects of carbofuran, a carbamate insecticide, on biological performancesof young pike (Esox lucius L., 1758): Preliminary results.

Pike free embryos were introduced into glass beakers and exposed under stat ic conditions to solutions (0-250 mu g.L-1) of carbofuran, a carbamate inse cticide inhibiting acetylcholinesterase (AchE) activity. From a carbofuran concentration of 10 mu g.L-1,,the overall AchE activity in free embryos was significantly inhibited. From 50 mu g.L-1, the mean level of attachment of free embryos to the beakers walls decreased significantly. The number of z ooplanktonic prey ingested by pike larvae was not significantly affected by exposure to carbofuran; however, this parameter tended to decrease with in creasing concentrations of carbofuran. In free embryos exposed to 250 mu g. L-1 carbofuran, yolk sac resorption was very incomplete and the transformat ion into larvae did not take place. The present study demonstrates that sublethal exposures to carbofuran may a ffect ontogenetic changes and biological performances in pike young stages. Further developments of this work are planned in several directions.