DEFORMITIES IN CULTURED CHIRONOMUS TENTANS LARVAE AND THE INFLUENCE OF SUBSTRATE ON GROWTH, SURVIVAL AND MENTUM WEAR

Effects of four substrates (shredded papertowelling, coarse sand, fine sand, and silty clay)on growth, survival and mentum wear of Chironomustentans larvae were investigated in thelaboratory. Three categories of mentum wear were defined:minimal, moderate and substantial. Thenumber of larvae with worn mentum teeth did not differ in anyof the four substrates. However, thenumber of larvae with minimal wear of their teeth wassignificantly different among the substrates andwas in the order coarse sand > shredded paper towelling >clay/silt > fine sand. Mentumdeformities were observed in the cultured larvae, presumablybecause of inbreeding and not the effectof treatment. Differences in biomass and survival of larvaeamong the substrates were not significant(p<0.05), however, there was a trend for lower survival inthe sand substrates. These findingssuggest that shredded paper towelling is the most suitablereference substrate. The occurrence ofnatural abnormalities must be considered when using chironomidmouthpart deformities as an index of environmental degradation.