Toxicity of the antifouling biocide Sea-Nine 211 to marine algae, crustacea, and a polychaete

Abstract

We evaluated the acute toxicity of the antifouling biocide Sea-Nine 211 to the algae Chaetoceros calcitrans, Dunaliella tertiolecta, Tetraselmis tetrathele, and Skeletonema costatum, the crustacea Tigriopus japonicus and Portunus trituberculatus, and the polychaete Perinereis nuntia. The algae, and especially the diatoms C. calcitrans and S. costatum, were sensitive to Sea-Nine 211 toxicity, with the average acute toxicity values being 0.32, 3.9, 1.6, 0.22, 1.6, 12, and 27 μg/l for C. calcitrans, D. tertiolecta, T. tetrathele, S. costatum, T. japonicus, P. trituberculatus, and P. nuntia, respectively. A sediment toxicity test for Sea-Nine 211 using the polychaete P. nuntia revealed demonstrated that the 14-day median lethal concentration was 110 μg/kg dry-wt sediment and that growth was the most sensitive indicator. The chronic toxicity values of Sea-Nine 211 for the diatoms C. calcitrans and S. costatum were within the range of reported Sea-Nine 211 concentrations in seawater in coastal Japan, and the toxicity values for P. nuntia were within the reported concentrations in sediment. Based on these results, Sea-Nine 211 may have toxic effects on some sensitive species residing in the coastal areas of Japan, but the ecological risk posed by Sea-Nine 211 would appear to be confined to a limited area of Japanese coastal waters.