Development of Sediment Toxicity Test With Tropical Peneid Shrimps

Abstract

Abstract-A methodology to test the toxicity of marine and estuarine sediments was developed using postlarval organisms of the marine shrimp Penaeus schmitti and P. paulensis. The tests were conducted in aquariums with a water feedback system and a sediment layer of 2 cm. The postlarvae exposure time to the sediments was 10, 28, and 52 d. The tested sediments were collected in contaminated sites of Guanabara and Sepetiba Bays and at the reference site of Ilha Grande inlet in Rio de Janerio, Brazil. The toxicity of the sediments was evidenced with exposures of 28 d or longer. The sediment from Saco do Engenho (Sepetiba Bay) was the most toxic, affecting the survival of both P. schmitti and P. paulensis. The sediment from Guanabara Bay was toxic to P. schmitti, affecting its survival after 28 d of exposure.

Influence of sediment characteristics on shrimp physiology: pH as principal effect

“…The lack of knowledge on this important topic points out the need for more research . In fact, different methodologies were developed to analyze sediment quality (Boyd, 1995;Hussenot and Martin, 1995), and to test the toxicity of sediment on shrimps survival or weight gain in field laboratory (Moraes et al, 2000;Ritvo et al, 1998aRitvo et al, ,b, 2000. However little has been done to study the effect of sediment on shrimp physiology in either field or laboratory experiments.…”