Full length article Ecological hazards of Total petroleum hydrocarbon in brackish water white Shrimp Nematopalaemon hastatus (AURIVILLUS 1898) Joshua Oluwatobi Akinola a,⇑ , Olamide Olaronke Olawusi-Peters a , Victoria Omolara Enobong Akpambang b a Department of Fisheries and Aquaculture Technology, Federal University of Technology, Akure Ondo State, Nigeria b Department of Industrial Chemistry, Federal University of Technology, Akure Ondo State, Nigeria article info Article history: Received 15 November 2018 Revised 16 July 2019 Accepted 22 July 2019 Available online 6 August 2019 Keywords: Nematopalaemon hastatus Aliphatic hydrocarbons Bioaccumulation Pollution Environment abstract Total Petroleum Hydrocarbons (TPHs) are of environmental interest because they are toxic to the aquatic fauna and flora. Hence, this study was carried out to provide baseline information on the level of TPHs in the coastal waters and species of Nigeria using standard methods. The TPH level in the water (4.07 mg/l) was low when compared with the target limit of 10 mg/l for the Niger Delta water. The independent- samples Kolmogorov-Smirnov Test of TPH in water and Nematopalaemon hastatus revealed a significant relationship (p < 0.05). TPH level in the species (N. hastatus) was 2585.62 mg/kg indicating long-term bioaccumulation. The values obtained was higher than the target limit of 50 mg/kg but within the inter- vention limit. The bioaccumulation factor (BAF) showed significant variation across the months, although below the standard limit (1000 mg/kg). The aliphatics hydrocarbon also posed a high ecological hazard to the biota species (Nematopalaemon hastatus) as the ecological hazard assessment (EHA) was far above one (1). Hence, to improve fish yield, as well as diversity, effective pollution control and adequate regu- lation of all activities contributing to the levels of petroleum hydrocarbon in the coastal region, are strongly recommended. Ó 2019 National Institute of Oceanography and Fisheries. Hosting by Elsevier B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/). Introduction The pollution of the coastal waters of Nigeria has received much attention in recent times due to the extensive exploration and exploitation of petroleum and gas resources in the Niger Delta region. Natural phenomena such as climate change, flooding, erosion play key roles in the contamination, degradation and destruction of the environment. However, industrial and anthropogenically-induced activities such as (flaring of gas resources, oil spill incidences, leakages from industries, runoff from crude oil polluted lands, refinery effluents, sabotage, sand mining, dredging and agro-industrial ventures) have threatened the immi- nent collapse of the coastal ecosystem and biodiversity (UNEP, 2002; Orubu et al., 2004). Incidence of acute toxicity of low concentration of petroleum hydrocarbon (0.1 ppm) to fish larvae has been reported by USEPA (1986) and (1984). These have a profound effect on the feeding behaviour of aquatic organisms and health hazards on predators. In addition, severe damage to benthic species, impaired growth and survival, interference with breeding ability, low reproductive ability and destruction of spawning and nursery grounds of most species in the sea are part of the resultant effect of petroleum hydrocarbon toxicity (Olawusi-Peters et al., 2017). The Nigerian coastal waters are situated within the Niger Delta region. The regions have witnessed over 4850 incidences of oil spil- lage involving about 150973.96 barrels of crude oil within 2010 and 2016 (DPR, 2016) causing adverse environmental impact. These activities introduce potentially toxic chemicals, which have significant and detrimental impacts on the water quality and aqua- tic biota. This indirectly affects species biodiversity, sustainability and the host communities. The family Palaemonidae consists of true prawns fished in both fresh and coastal waters of Nigeria and cherished by the Nigerian populace as a good source of animal protein. Among the common and most diversified prawns found in the coastal regions of Ondo state, Nigeria, are brackish water white Shrimp Nematopalaemon hastatus (AURIVILLUS 1898) and brackish river prawn Macro- brachium macrobrachion (Herklots, 1851) (Olawusi-Peters et al., 2014). Olawusi-Peters and Ajibare (2014) observed relatively low evenness of some coastal prawns and high single species domi- nance of Nematopalaemon hastatus in coastal waters of Ondo State https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ejar.2019.07.004 1687-4285/Ó 2019 National Institute of Oceanography and Fisheries. Hosting by Elsevier B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/). Peer review under responsibility of National Institute of Oceanography and Fisheries. ⇑ Corresponding author. E-mail addresses: joesheathakinola@gmail.com (J.O. Akinola), olaolaronke@ yahoo.com (O.O. Olawusi-Peters), veakpambang@futa.edu.ng (V.O.E. Akpambang). Egyptian Journal of Aquatic Research 45 (2019) 205–210 Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Egyptian Journal of Aquatic Research journal homepage: www.sciencedirect.com/locate/ejar