Toxicity of Pyrethroids to Marine Invertebrates and Fish: A Literature Review and Test Results With Sediment-Sorbed Chemicals

Abstract

Data on the acute and chronic toxicities of permethrin, fenvalerate, cypermethrin and flucythrinate to marine invertebrates and fish are reviewed. Generally, crustaceans are more sensitive than fish; oysters are comparatively insensitive. The mysid Mysidopsis bahia consistently is among the most sensitive crustaceans tested, with 96-h LC5Os of less than 0.02 pg/L for permethrin and of less than 0.01 pg/L for fenvalerate, cypermethrin and flucythrinate. The potential for chronic toxicity to fish is minimal for permethrin, moderate for fenvalerate and relatively great for flucythrinate.Laboratory toxicity tests were conducted with sediment-source fenvalerate and cypermethrin under static and flow-through conditions to determine the degree of contamination necessary to achieve acute lethal effects on mysids, grass shrimp (Palaemonetespugio) and pink shrimp (Penaats duorurum). Mortality was observed in test animals only in systems where the concentrations of sediment-source pyrethroids were sufficient to establish lethal concentrations in the overlying water through sediment/water partitioning. For fenvalerate, lethal effects occurred at nominal sediment concentrations of 0.1 mg/kg (static and flow-through) for mysids and grass shrimp and at 10 mg/kg for pink shrimp. Nominal sediment concentrations of cypermethrin of 0.1 mg/kg (static) or 1.0 mg/kg (flow-through) resulted in mortality in mysids and grass shrimp, whereas 1.0 mg/kg was the only test concentration that caused mortality in pink shrimp in the static and flow-through test systems. The correspondence between aqueous concentrations and LC5Os for test animals demonstrated the importance of quantitating the bioavailable portion of pyrethroids in field samples to characterize accurately the environmental risk associated with pyrethroid runoff after agricultural applications.

Determining the ecotoxicological mode of action of toxic chemicals in meiobenthic marine organisms: stage-specific short tests with Tisbe battagliai

“…Studies conducted with estuarine crustaceans and meiobenthic copepods have also reported similar sensitivities of juvenile and adult stages to pyrethroid insecticides (Chandler 1990, Cripe 1994). Toxicities to sensitive life-stages of other crustaceans such as amphipods, crayfish, shrimp and lobster have been reported from 4 to 200 ng l -1 for cypermethrin and 1.4 ng l -1 for deltamethrin (Clark et al 1989, Day 1989, Cripe 1994, Burridge et al 2000. Therefore, in the present bioassay, observed life-stage sensitivities of Tisbe battagliai to pyrethroids were of similar magnitude to those obtained for other crustaceans.…”

“…The high hydrophobicity of PAH and pyrethroid insecticides favours their partitioning to sediment and suspended particles such as algae (Kenish 1992, Chandler et al 1994, Zhou et al 1995, Zhou & Rowland 1997, Lotufo 1998. Thus, it is not surprising to find that sediment-associated fluoranthene and pyrethroid insecticides strongly affect feeding and hence impair reproduction of meiobenthic copepods (Clark et al 1989, Chandler 1990, Chandler et al 1994, Lotufo 1998. Nevertheless, meiobenthic copepods such as Tisbe can feed continuously by grazing on algae (Villano & Warwick 1995).…”

Effect of Neurotoxic Pesticides on the Feeding Rate of Marine Mussels (Mytilus edulis)

“…An Environmental Quality Standard (EQS) of 1 ng litre~1 (0É003 nmol litre~1) has been proposed for the protection of marine life from the e †ects of the pyrethroids cyÑuthrin and permethrin which are used in mothprooÐng.25 These stringent EQSs are necessary since 96-h values as low as 5 ng litre~1 LC 50 (0É012 nmol litre~1) have been reported for the e †ect of cypermethrin (a close structural analogue of cyÑuthrin) on the shrimp Mysidopsis bahaia.24 Though not as sensitive to pyrethroids as crustaceans, Ðsh would be killed at concentrations which would have no detectable sublethal e †ects on bivalve mollusc feeding rate. 24 Concentrations of pyrethroids in excess of the EQSs are frequently reported in UK rivers,70 so may also be present in some estuaries. However, it is Ðrmly established that much of the pyrethroid contamination detected in the environment is absorbed onto sediments and colloids and is not immediately biologically available, so may not be toxic.24 Therefore, the only satisfactory way to assess the impact of pyrethroids is to employ a pyrethroid-sensitive in-situ bioassay.…”

Bath efficacy of sodium hypochlorite, oxytetracycline dihydrate and chloramphenicol against bacterial black disease in fairy shrimpBranchinella thailandensis

“…Nevertheless, the study showed that survival rate of infected fairy shrimp treated with OTC (at 250 lg mL À1 for 3 h) was only 56.7 AE 0.33%. As fairy shrimp are crustaceans, they are more sensitive than fish and other aquatic animals (Clark, Goodman, Borthwick, Patrick, Cripe, Moody, Moore & Lores 1989). Therefore, the ability to recover after infection and treatment is quite difficult.…”