Improving regulatory assessments of endocrine disrupting contaminants in Canadian marine environments

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Industrial and municipal discharges, such as pulp and paper mill effluents and sewage, contain compounds known as "endocrine disruptors". These compounds have chemical structures which make them able to mimic fish hormones, such as estrogen and testosterone. When fish are exposed to the endocrine disruptors, their normal hormone systems are altered. This can result in effects such as smaller ovaries and testes, "intersex" (in which both ovary and testis tissue are in one gonad), lower blood levels of reproductive hormones and changes in the numbers of offspring produced. Our project is focused on understanding how endocrine disruptors released into Canada's coastal environments interfere with normal functioning of fish reproductive systems. We will study how a common east coast saltwater minnow, the mummichog (Fundulus