Comparative toxicology for risk assessment of marine fishes and crustaceans

Existing data on the toxicity of chemicals to marine organisms were evaluated for their usefulness for developing equations predicting risks to marine organisms, the representativeness of standard marine test species was investigated, and the feasibility of extrapolating data from freshwater to marine species was examined. Toxic effects could be predicted with a variability comparable to that associated with freshwater data. The standard marine test fish, Cyprinodon variegatus, appeared to be representative of marine fishes, but marine crustaceans gave highly diverse responses. More systematic testing was required to determine the relative sensitivities of marine organisms to chemical pollutants. A bibliography of 53 references is appended.