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 LC50s of less than 0.02 μg/L for permethrin and of less than 0.01 μg/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 (Palaemonetes pugio) and pink shrimp (Penaeus duorarum). 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 LC50s 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.