Table 1.

In vivo effects of aflatoxins and sterigmatocystin on fish. Effects were dose dependent.

Type of Mycotoxin	Fish	Species	Dose (mg/kg)	Exposure Time	Effects	Ref.
Aflatoxin B1	Juvenile 18-month sturgeon	Huso huso	0.01	<15 days	Decreased feed intake and weigh loss. Increased weakness in the performance. Changes in swimming behavior. Hemorrhagic skin lesions in the head and abdomen. Yellow spots in the pectoral area. Curvature of the spinal cord. Accumulation of exudes liquid in the ventricular and kidney. Hepatitis and liver cancer. Hyperinflammation of gallbladder.	[71]
Aflatoxin B1	Adult sea bass	Dicentrarchus labrax L.	0.018	42 days	Abnormal behavior—sluggish movements, swimming imbalance, rapid opercular movement and loss of equilibrium. Muscular seizures prior to death. Hemorrhages and yellow patches in the dorsal skin surface. Ascites. Hemorrhagic fluid in the abdominal cavity. Darkening of the body surface. Internal generalized congestion and pale discoloration of liver, kidney and gills. Severe distention of the gallbladder. Changes in eye opacity and exophthalmia. Increase in serum transaminases and alkaline phosphatase activities. Decrease in plasma proteins, albumin and globulin. Emaciation. Residual high levels (≈0.005 mg/kg) in the musculature.	[72]
Aflatoxin B1	Channel catfish	Ictalurus punctus	12	10 days	Regurgitation of the stomach contents. Discoloration of the gills, livers, kidneys, spleen, stomach and intestines. Reduction in hematocrits, hemoglobin concentrations and erythrocyte counts. Histological lesions in the intestinal mucosa. Necrosis of hematopoietic tissues, hepatocytes, pancreatic acinar cells and gastric glands. Reduction in the volume of red pulp and the number of leukocytes in the spleen. Dilation of the renal tubular lumens.	[76]
Aflatoxin B1	Channel catfish	Ictalurus punctus	2.2–10	10 weeks	Reduced growth rate. Reduced hematocrit, hemoglobulin concentration and erythrocyte count. Increase in leukocyte count. Apparent hepatocellular necrosis and necrosis of the gastric glands. Dilation and changes in the profile of the head kidney. Increased hematopoietic activity of blood-forming tissues. Accumulation of iron pigments in the intestinal mucosal epithelium.	[93]
Aflatoxin B1	Red drum	Sciaenops ocellatus	0.1–5	7 weeks	Reduced weight gain and feed efficiency. Reduction in the whole-body lipid levels Liver lesions. Reduced survival.	[75]
Aflatoxin B1	Tilapia	Oreochromis niloticus× O. aureus	0.019–1.641	20 weeks	Reduced weight gain and growth. Yellowing of the body surface. Hepatic disorders—decrease in lipid content, infiltration by inflammatory cells and eosinophilic materials, white spots of necrosis, infiltration of macrophages and vacuolar degeneration of hepatocytes. Decrease in the concentration of total protein and albumin.	[78]
Aflatoxin B1	Nile tilapia	Oreochromis niloticus	0.9–3.0	25 days	Reduced growth feed intake. Histological changes in the liver—neoplastic changes and fatty liver. Congestion of the kidney, shrinking of the glomeruli and melanosis.	[79]
Aflatoxin B1	Nile tilapia	Oreochromis niloticus	0.25–100	8 weeks	Reduced weight gain. Reduced hematocrit. Histopathological changes in the liver—excess lipofuscin, irregularly sized hepatocellular nuclei and necrosis. Increased mortality.	[80]
Aflatoxin B1	Gibel carp	Carassius auratus gibelio	0.0032–0.9915	12–16 weeks	No significant health effects were determined. Low residues were found in muscles (<2.32 µg/kg).	[86]
Aflatoxin B1	Juvenile gibel carp	Carassius auratus gibelio	0.0032–0.0286	3 months	Slight damages to the hepatopancreas. Low levels of toxin in the muscle (<4.08 µg/kg).	[85]
Aflatoxins B1 + G1	Rainbow trout	Unspecified	0.0018–0.0397	Unspecified	Enlarged liver with histological changes—white or yellow nodules or cyst swellings, tumor-like lesions, irregular cords of abnormal hepatocytes, necrosis and hemorrhages. Enlarged hearts and kidneys. Ascites. Swollen abdomen.	[50]
Aflatoxins B1 + G1	Tilapia	Unspecified	0.0018–0.0397	Unspecified	No tumor-like lesions were detected.	[50]
Sterigmatocystin	Rainbow trout embryos	Salmo gairdneri	0.5	14 days	Increased incidence of hepatocellular carcinomas among survivors 1 year later.	[82]
Sterigmatocystin	Nile tilapia	Oreochromis niloticus	0.0016	4 weeks	Reduced body weight. Increase frequency of micronucleated red blood cells and chromosomal aberrations mainly in the kidney. Increased mortality. Accumulation (≈8 µg/kg) in the fish’s musculature.	[83]
Sterigmatocystin	Nile tilapia	Oreochromis niloticus	0.0016	4 weeks	Behavioral changes—unbalanced swimming. Darker color. Histopathological lesions in different organs—hyperplastic proliferation of bronchial epithelium, necrobiotic changes in hepatic and splenic tissues and destruction of components of the spleen. DNA changes—polymorphism band patterns.	[84]