Abstract-Anthropogenic chemicals that disrupt the hormonal systems (endocrine disruptors) of wildlife species recently have become a widely investigated and politically charged issue. Invertebrates account for roughly 95% of all animals, yet surprisingly little effort has been made to understand their value in signaling potential environmental endocrine disruption. This omission largely can be attributed to the high diversity of invertebrates and the shortage of fundamental knowledge of their endocrine systems. Insects and crustaceans are exceptions and, as such, appear to be excellent candidates for evaluating the environmental consequences of chemically induced endocrine disruption. Mysid shrimp (Crustacea: Mysidacea) may serve as a viable surrogate for many crustaceans and have been put forward as suitable test organisms for the evaluation of endocrine disruption by several researchers and regulatory bodies (e.g., the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency). Despite the long-standing use of mysids in toxicity testing, little information exists on their endocrinology, and few studies have focused on the potential of these animals for evaluating the effects of hormone-disrupting compounds. Therefore, the question remains as to whether the current standardized mysid endpoints can be used or adapted to detect endocrine disruption, or if new procedures must be developed, specifically directed at evaluating hormone-regulated endpoints in these animals. This review summarizes the ecological importance of mysids in estuarine and marine ecosystems, their use in toxicity testing and environmental monitoring, and their endocrinology and important hormone-regulated processes to highlight their potential use in assessing environmental endocrine disruption.

Comparative developmental and reproductive studies were performed on several species of estuarine crustaceans in response to three juvenile hormone agonists (pyriproxyfen, methoprene and fenoxycarb). Larval development of the grass shrimp, Palaemonetes pugio, was greater than two orders of magnitude more sensitive to disruption by methoprene and fenoxycarb than was embryonic development. Developing larvae of the mud crab, Rhithropanopeus harrisii, exhibited reduced metamorphic success at lower concentrations of methoprene and pyriproxyfen than grass shrimp larvae. These responses suggest that the more rigidly controlled metamorphic process in crabs is more sensitive to compounds acting as endocrine disruptors than is the more flexible metamorphic pattern in shrimp. The final crab larval stage, the megalopa, was more sensitive to methoprene and fenoxycarb exposure than earlier zoeal stages. Mud crab larvae exposed to fenoxycarb had reduced biomass and lipid content, particularly triglycerides and sterols. Concentrations of fenoxycarb which reduced the reproductive capacity in single life-cycle exposures of the estuarine mysid, Americamysis bahia, were similar to those concentrations which inhibited metamorphosis in grass shrimp. Juvenile mysids released by exposed adults and reared through maturation without further exposure produced fewer young and had altered sex ratios (lower percentages of males) at lower parental-exposure concentrations than directly affected parental reproduction. These transgenerational responses may well be a product of irreversible effects during developmental exposures which become apparent following maturation and initiation of reproduction. These findings support using a functional approach as an appropriate screening procedure to evaluate potential environmental endocrine-disrupting chemicals in aquatic environments.

Individuals of the crayfish Procambarus clarkii (males and females) were exposed simultaneously to cadmium and zinc during 21 days. Exposure concentrations were those determined at the Guadiamar river after the Aznalcóllar mining spill (SW, Spain): 10 and 30 microg L(-1) of cadmium and 1000 and 3000 microg L(-1) of zinc. Three biomarkers (MT: metallothioneins like proteins, VTG: vitellogenin/vitellin like proteins and histopathology) together with heavy metal bioaccumulation were determined in soft tissues of male and female P. clarkii. At the concentrations tested, increasing cadmium exposure resulted in increasing cadmium bioaccumulation and increasing subletal effects (induction of MT, VTG and histopathological damage in tissues). Nevertheless, although increasing zinc exposure showed increasing VTG induction and histopathological damages, not a positive relationship was determined with MT induction. Concerning to responses determined in male and female crayfishes only differences were found between sexes at the highest cadmium exposure concentration related to bioaccumulation in hepatopancreas tissues. Biomarkers responses to heavy metal contamination in this crayfish, even VTG induction not before tested in heavy metal contamination assessment in crustaceans resulted potential tools for the monitoring of heavy metal environmental contamination.

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Population-level effects of the mysid, Americamysis bahia, exposed to varying thiobencarb concentrations were estimated using stage-structured matrix models. A deterministic density-independent matrix model estimated the decrease in population growth rate (lambda) with increasing thiobencarb concentration. An elasticity analysis determined that survival of middle stages provided the largest contribution to lambda. Decomposing the effects of lambda in terms of changes in the matrix components determined that reduced reproduction had a large influence on population dynamics at lower thiobencarb concentrations, whereas reduced survivorship had the largest impact on populations at higher concentrations. A simulation model of a concentration-decay system was developed to demonstrate the importance of integrating chemical half-life and management practices in determining population viability. In this model, mysids were originally exposed to a high thiobencarb concentration (300 microg/L) that decayed an order of magnitude in the number of mysid generations corresponding to thiobencarb half-life values under three different exposure regimes. Environmental stochasticity was added to the model to estimate the cumulative extinction probability of mysids exposed to fluctuating concentrations of thiobencarb in random environments. The cumulative extinction probability increased with thiobencarb half-life, stochasticity, and concentration present at the time of a new exposure. The model demonstrated the expansion of population projection models in determining the ecological impact of a population exposed to pesticides.