A multiple endpoint analysis of the effects of chronic exposure to sediment contaminated with Deepwater Horizon oil on juvenile Southern flounder and their associated microbiomes

The BP Deepwater Horizon (DWH) accident released an estimated 4.9 billion barrels of Louisiana sweet crude oil into the northern Gulf of Mexico (GOM) over an 87 day period between 20 April and 15 July 2010. Exposure to oiled sediments can negatively impact the health of fish species. In this report, the authors examine the effects of chronic exposure of juvenile southern flounder, Paralichthys lethostigma, to a sediment-oil mixture. 

After the flounder were exposed to sediment mixed with different amount of oil from the Deepwater Horizon spill for 32 days, researchers found that growth and surivival were reduced, the gills and livers of exposed fish were significantly affected, and microbiomes of the exposed fish were significantly altered by the exposure to sediment-associated oil in both gills and intestines.