Toxicity of ammonia to three marine fish and three marine invertebrates

• Published in: Environmental toxicology Vol. 19; no. 2; pp. 134 - 142
• Main Authors: Boardman, G.D, Starbuck, S.M, Hudgins, D.B, Li, X, Kuhn, D.D
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Hoboken Wiley Subscription Services, Inc., A Wiley Company 01-04-2004; Wiley
• Subjects: acute toxicity; ammonia; Ammonia - toxicity; Analysis of Variance; Animal, plant and microbial ecology; Animals; Applied ecology; Biological and medical sciences; Callianassidae; Chesapeake Bay; chronic toxicity; clams; Cyprinodon variegatus; Dose-Response Relationship, Drug; Ecotoxicology, biological effects of pollution; Endpoint Determination; Fishes - metabolism; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Hydrogen-Ion Concentration; in-stream water quality; Invertebrata; Invertebrates - drug effects; Invertebrates - metabolism; Lethal Dose 50; Marine; Marine and brackish environment; marine fish; Menidia; Menidia menidia; Mercenaria; Mercenaria mercenaria; Mysidacea; Mysidopsis bahia; Palaemonetes pugio; Paralichthys dentatus; Pisces; Platichthys; salinity; salinity effects; saltwater organisms; seawater; Seawater - analysis; shrimp; Sodium Chloride - analysis; Sodium Chloride - metabolism; toxicity testing; Toxicity Tests; United States; water quality; Chesapeake Bay; United States; USA, Chesapeake Bay; ANW, USA, Chesapeake Bay; Ecotoxicology; Toxicity; Acute; Environmental factor; Salinity; Marine environment; Ammonia; Vertebrata; Chronic; Pisces; acute toxicity; Chesapeake Bay; Environment; Invertebrata; salinity effects; chronic toxicity
• ISSN: 1520-4081; 1522-7278
• DOI: 10.1002/tox.20006

Laboratory toxicity tests were performed to obtain more data on the toxicity of ammonia to saltwater organisms. The standards for in-stream ammonia limits in marine environments presently are based on toxicity tests involving both freshwater and saltwater organisms. Acute tests (48 and 96 h) were performed at 20 °C, and chronic tests (7 days) were performed at 25 °C. Synthetic seawater and natural seawater from the Chesapeake Bay were used and compared. Included among the organisms tested were sheepshead minnow (14 days old), summer flounder (2 months old), Atlantic silverside (14 days old), mysid shrimp (less than 2 days old), ghost shrimp (10 days old), and quahog clam (9 months old). Based on these results, it seems the chronic criterion for ammonia in marine environments could be increased from 0.035 to 0.081 mg/L un-ionized ammonia, which would, of course, increase the chronic limit for total ammonia under typical saltwater conditions by a factor of 2.31. No difference was observed in the toxicity of ammonia in natural water compared to synthetic water for both the summer flounder and Atlantic silverside. Furthermore, the Atlantic silverside became more sensitive to ammonia as the salinity was increased from 14 to 22 ppt, but exhibited no change in toxicity response from 22 to 30 ppt.