Affiliation: | aDepartment of Toxicology, Medicine Faculty, University of Cádiz, Plaza Fragela 9, 11003 Cádiz, Spain bToxicology Laboratory, Faculty of Marine and Environmental Sciences, University of Cádiz, Polígono Río San Pedro s/n, 11510 Puerto Real, Cádiz, Spain cInstitute of Marine Sciences of Andalucía, CSIC. Polígono Río San Pedro, 11510 Puerto Real, Cádiz, Spain |
Abstract: | The use of Early Life Stage (ELS) tests is a useful tool in risk assessment. The purpose of this study was to compare the sensitivity of the seabream (Sparus aurata) larvae with the extensively used Microtox® test on a commercial formulation containing simazine, an s-triazine herbicide. To this end, survival, growth and histopathological changes displayed by seabream yolk sac larvae exposed during 72 h post-hatching to nominal concentrations of the commercial preparation up to its saturating concentration in water, and bioluminescence of the marine bacteria Vibrio fischeri (Microtox®) were studied. Survival of larvae after three days of exposure was significantly reduced in the highest (4.5 mg/l) concentration, but no effects on growth were found in any of the simazine treatments. The 72 h LC50 value for yolk sac larvae was estimated as 4.19 mg/l. Commercial grade simazine did not exert any significant toxicity to the marine bacterium V. fischeri at the concentrations tested. |