Acute effects of suspended sediment angularity on juvenile coho salmon (Oncorhynchus kisutch)

To determine the roles of suspended sediment angularity and concentration as contributors to stress and mortality in salmonids, we exposed juvenile coho salmon (Oncorhynchus kisutch) to anthropogenically derived "extremely angular" and "round" silicate sediments over a range of concentrations in 96-h experiments. Stress responses (e.g., decreased leukocrit) were elicited by exposure to both sediment shapes when concentrations were >40 g·L-1, corresponding to the minimum concentration at which physical gill damage was observed. Extremely angular sediments also caused stress responses (e.g., elevated hematocrit, decreased leukocrit) at concentrations <41 g·L-1. However, we found no difference between sediment shapes in causing mortality at any sediment concentration. Further, mortalities were not observed until concentrations were about 100 g·L-1, a value that is about an order of magnitude greater than high natural concentrations in salmonid rivers. Natural fluvial suspended sediments cause fish stress and mortality at much lower concentrations than we found with our anthropogenically derived suspended sediments.