A short-term embryo-larval test is described for use with single compounds or complex effluents. Exposure was initiated soon after fertilization and maintained for 4 d after hatching, which gave an exposure period of 6 to 8 d for a number of fish and amphibian species. Test responses included mortality and teratogenesis. Probit analysis was used to calculate median lethal (LC50) and threshold (LCI) concentrations. Standard statistical tests also were performed to determine no observed effect concentrations. Multiple tests were performed with cadmium as the reference toxicant, using continuous-flow and static-renewal procedures; results substantiated high precision and good repeatability. Cadmium LCI values agreed closely with cadmium chronic values determined in life-cycle studies. The review of published data also supported close correlations between LCIs and chronic values for metals. The procedure also worked satisfactorily for a multiple-species test in which eggs of three species were maintained in mixed populations using the same exposure chambers. The test also was conducted in the laboratory to screen seven major industrial effluents. The test for effluent biomonitoring was further evaluated in two major field studies. As compared with 96-h flow-through acute tests with the fathead minnow, the short-term embryo-larval test was decidedly more sensitive and reliable for characterizing the toxicity of complex effluents.
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Birge et al. (1985) studied this question.
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