ABSTRACT
Wild fish flesh is an important component of human nutrition worldwide. Many species spend their infancy in estuaries and coastal zones associated with densities of urban populations and industrial complexes. The application of pathobiologic approaches to monitor this threat and to prioritize abatement procedures is needed. Environmental studies using fish as sentinel organisms are not new with investigations reported of varying magnitude. A number of important tissues may be simultaneously studied while maintaining in situ cellular, tissue, and organ system relationships. Potential sources of error in feral fish histopathology exist. Specific criteria for classification of toxicologic alterations of fishes are emerging. Seasonal and hormonal changes, i.e., inter- and intraspecific anatomical variations in the range of normality, should be considered to prevent errors in histopathologic analysis. Infectious disease and parasitism must be considered before implicating a chemical etiology.
