Validation of Arenicola marina in field toxicity bioassays using benthic cages: Biomarkers as tools for assessing sediment quality

► Field assays with caged lugworms are a valuable tool for sediment quality assessment. ► Lugworm biochemical biomarkers are useful detecting toxicity and chemical exposure. ► Cadiz Bay sediments were not toxic for Arenicola marina. ► Sediment PAHs in Santander Bay and LPGC Port induced toxic responses in A. marina. ► PPCPs were identified as possible cause of toxicity for lugworms. Sediment toxicity assessments using caged organisms present advantages over using laboratory and native community studies. The use of caged Arenicola marina in sediment toxicity assessments was evaluated. Lugworms were exposed in situ to sediments from coastal and port areas in Spain for seven days, and the activities of the biotransformation enzymes ethoxyresorufin O-deethylase, dibenzylfluorescein dealkylase and glutathione S-transferase, the activities of the antioxidant enzymes glutathione reductase and glutathione peroxidase and lipid peroxidation were then analyzed as biomarkers. Biomarker results and sediment physicochemical data were integrated. Cádiz Bay (SW Spain) sediments presented metal contamination that was not linked to a biochemical response. In LPGC Port (SW Spain), Pb contamination exhibited a moderate toxic potential, while PAHs, and presumably pharmaceuticals, provoked biochemical responses that efficiently prevented lipid peroxidation. In Santander Bay (N Spain), exposure to PAHs and, presumably, pharmaceuticals induced biomarker responses, but lipid peroxidation occurred nevertheless. These results indicated that caged A. marina were effective for the assessment of sediment quality and that the selected biomarkers were sufficiently sensitive to identify chemical exposure and toxicity.