Standard Guide for Conducting Early Life-Stage Toxicity Tests with Fishes

Importancia y uso:

5.1 Protection of a species requires prevention of unacceptable effects on the number, weight, health, and uses of the individuals of that species. An early life-stage toxicity test provides information about the chronic toxicity of a test material to a species of fish. The primary adverse effects studied are reduced survival and growth.

5.2 Results of early life-stage toxicity tests are generally useful estimates of the results of comparable life-cycle tests with the same species (1).4 However, results of early life-stage tests are sometimes under estimative of those obtained with the same species in the longer life-cycle tests (2).

5.3 Results of early life-stage toxicity tests might be used to predict long-term effects likely to occur on fish in field situations as a result of an exposure under comparable conditions, except that motile organisms might avoid exposure when possible.

5.4 Results of early life-stage toxicity tests might be used to compare the chronic sensitivities of different fish species and the chronic toxicities of different materials, and to study the effects of various environmental factors on results of such tests.

5.5 Results of early life-stage toxicity tests might be an important consideration when assessing the hazards of materials to aquatic organisms (see Guide E1023) or when deriving water quality criteria for aquatic organisms (3).

5.6 Results of an early life-stage test might be useful for predicting the results of chronic tests on the same test material with the same species in another water or with another species in the same or a different water. Most such predictions take into account the results of acute toxicity tests, and so the usefulness of the results of an early life-stage test is greatly increased by reporting also the results of an acute toxicity test (see Guide E729) conducted with juveniles of the same species under the same conditions.

5.7 Results of early life-stage toxicity tests might be useful for studying the biological availability of, and structure-activity relationships between, test materials.

5.8 Results of early life-stage toxicity tests will depend on temperature, composition of the dilution water, condition of the test organisms, and other factors.

Subcomité:

E50.47

Referida por:

E1604-20, E1391-03R23, E2455-25, E1022-22, E1711-20, E1850-04R19, E2552-23, E1023-23, E1688-19, E1611-21, E1706-25, E1367-03R23

Volúmen:

11.09

Número ICS:

65.150 (Fishing and fish breeding)

Palabras clave:

aquatic; chronic toxicity; culture techniques; early life-history; Morone saxatilis; striped bass;