Handling of Astyanax sp for biomonitoring in Canguiri Farm within a fountainhead (Irai River Environment Preservation Area) through the use of genetic biomarkers

Aquatic environmental pollution may cause biodiversity loss. Thus, monitoring studies are very important because fish health reflects both quality and sustainability of the environment, as well as of the individuals that live there. In the present report, genetic biomarkers (piscine micronucleus test; comet assay with blood, liver, and kidney cells) were used in specimens of Astyanax sp. to analyze the contamination level of the Canguiri Farm through biomonitoring. The Canguiri Farm, the old school farm of the Federal University of Parana, is inside the Irai River Environment Preservation Area, created in 1996 to preserve the sources of public water supply in Curitiba and metropolitan area. We verified that the fishes collected within the Canguiri Farm area presented high damage levels, showing more environment contamination when compared to the specimens collected in the Costa Ecologic Park, used as reference in the present report. The results indicate that the Canguiri Farm, which is inside an environment protection area, created especially for the protection of the fountainhead for water supply, may be contaminated. These toxic residues, which were remarkably persistent in the environment, are possibly derived from agricultural activities in the wider area. Thus, we suggest the analysis of the area with other biomarkers and for a longer time period.