본 연구에서는 탁수농도에 따라 생물서식지에 영향을 주는 스트레스 지수를 활용하여 탁수에 대한 어류영향실험을 수행하였다. 국내 하천에서 우점비율이 가장 높은 피라미를 대상으로 발생단계별로 탁수에 대한 모의실험을 수행한 결과 발생 초기단계에서는 탁수에 대한 반응이 민감하게 나타났지만 성체단계에 이르면서 고탁수에 대한 적응하는 것으로 나타났다. 그 외 어종에 대한 탁수반응은 어종별 내성도에 따라 다르게 나타난다. 따라서 본 연구결과는 향후 수생태 건강성평가와 연계하여 하천의 건강성상태를 결정한 후, 평가등급에 따라 탁수에 대한 농도와 배출 허용기간을 적용하는데 유용한 지표가 될 것으로 기대한다.
To quantitatively assess the effects of turbidity on egg development and larval fish survival, a laboratory fish rearing experiment was applied to different life stages (newly hatched larval stage, juvenile stage and pre-adult stage) of the Zacco platypus, one of the most universal and tolerant species in Korea. According to the stress index of turbidity in water with exposure time, three different treatments, including a reference condition (1~7 NTU) as well as intermediate (20~150 NTU) and high turbidity conditions (400~1,000 NTU) were applied, and egg hatching and larval fish mortality rates were observed. The mortality rates of newly hatched larval fish were significantly different among treatments (ANOVA, $F_{2,3}$=17.79, p<0.05). Average rates of survival to hatching were 20.9% (${pm}0.1%$) for reference condition, 11% (${pm}6.9%$) for intermediate level and 3.2% (${pm}3.7%$) for high level conditions, respectively. A sudden change of mortality at the high level was observed within 5 days of the experiment. About 84% of juvenile fish survived until 20 experimental periods under conditions of reference turbidity, while survival under conditions of intermediate turbidity was over 80% of larval fish until day 13 of the experiment, but dropped to less than 10% after day 14 and 15 of two experiments. Fish mortality appeared from day 6 of the high turbidity experiment, and 50% mortality was achieved at day 9 to 10 of experiment. Full mortality occurred at day 14 of the experiment (RM-ANOVA, $F_{2,38}$, p<0.005). In the pre-adult stage experiment, no mortality was observed during the experiment at reference level treatment (20 days), while only slight mortality rates were observed for both intermediate and high levels until day 5 of the experiment, however, no further fish died in either experiment. It was significantly different compared to reference condition (RM-ANOVA, $F_{2,20}$=8.28, p<0.01), but no difference was observed between intermediate and high level conditions. Consequently, this tolerant species has been determined to be well adapted to high levels of turbidity in its adult stage, but more vulnerable throughout earlier life stages.
