Full length article Noise elicits hematological stress parameters in Mediterranean damselfish (Chromis chromis, perciformes): A mesocosm study Mirella Vazzana a , Monica Celi a , Vincenzo Arizza a, b, c, d, e, * , Giampiero Calandra a , Giuseppa Buscaino c , Vincenzo Ferrantelli d , Claudia Bracciali b , Gianluca Sar  a b a Dipartimento di Scienze e Tecnologie Biologiche Chimiche e Farmaceutiche, Sezione di Biologia Animale e Antropologia Biologica, Universit a degli Studi di Palermo, Via Archirafi, 18-90123 Palermo, Italy b Dipartimento di Scienze del Mare e della Terra, Universit a di Palermo, Via delle Scienze Ed. 16, 90128 Palermo, Italy c U.O. Granitola Cape Institute for Coastal Marine Environment, National Research Council, Via del Faro, 4-91021 Capo Granitola (TP), Italy d Istituto Zooprofilattico della Sicilia “A. Mirri”, Palermo, Italy e Istituto Euro Mediterraneo di Scienza e Tecnologia, Palermo, Italy article info Article history: Received 11 July 2016 Received in revised form 9 November 2016 Accepted 13 January 2017 Available online 17 January 2017 Keywords: Stress Noise pollution HSP70 Chromis chromis Blood abstract In the last few decades, technological developments and the widespread rise of anthropic activities have increased the exposure of organisms to noise pollution, thus evoking great interest in its biological ef- fects, particularly on the immune system. The aim of the present work was to investigate some of the biochemical parameters in the blood of Chromis chromis (Linnaeus, 1758) following in vivo exposure to noise levels of 200 and 300 Hz. Our results revealed that, compared to the control specimens, the fish exposed to noise had significantly increased levels of stress biomarkers such as glucose, lactate and total proteins in plasma, as well as a rise in the expression of heat shock protein 70 (HSP70). © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction The noise of boats is one of the most recognized sources of human disturbance in the marine environment [1], and is able to divert the natural behaviour of fish species [2,3] and affect their use of their habitat [3e5]. In Mediterranean coastal habitats, the most common and abundant infralittoral fish is the damselfish (Chromis chromis L.), which is the only species belonging to the Pomacen- tridae family. Chromis chromis has is maximum of sensibility to sound stimuli in the range between 200 and 500e600 Hz [6], which falls well within the range of the noise generated by boats [3,7]. Specifically, Picciulin et al. [8], demonstrated that a frequency of about 400 Hz could have a detrimental effect on damselfish behaviour, masking particular sounds emitted by males during courtship (e.g. pops). Furthermore, a previous companion paper [5] showed that low frequency noise (viz. 100 and 1000 Hz), such as that generated by boats, elicited in damselfish the modification of: group behaviour, the time taken to reach the sea floor and natural feeding rates [5]. Accordingly, the sound window of auditory capability between 200 and 300 Hz seems to be crucial for the individual fitness of this species. Buscaino et al. [9] demonstrated that noise exposure produced a significant sub-organismal response, as shown by the increase in swimming activity and significant changes in lactate, glucose and hematological levels in coastal fish (sea bream and sea bass). Moreover, it has been demonstrated [10] in the European spiny lobster (P. elephas Fabricius, 1787) that, after exposure to acoustic pollution, there are increases in glucose and total plasma protein concentrations, as well as an increase in HSP70 expression. These studies that the acoustic stimulus can be perceived as noise and can activate stress responses. The stress response in- volves a wide range of physiological mechanisms, including metabolism and immune-response that will be useful to overcome the imbalance condition triggered by stressful or primary stress response. With these reactions the animal tries to avoid dangerous situations and the risk to life and body integrity, and subsequently * Corresponding author. Dipartimento di Scienze e Tecnologie Biologiche Chi- miche e Farmaceutiche, Sezione di Biologia Animale e Antropologia Biologica, Universit a degli Studi di Palermo, Via Archirafi, 18-90123 Palermo, Italy. E-mail address: vincenzo.arizza@unipa.it (V. Arizza). Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Fish & Shellfish Immunology journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/fsi http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.fsi.2017.01.022 1050-4648/© 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. Fish & Shellfish Immunology 62 (2017) 147e152