Acute Toxicity of Nitrite to Red Drum Sciaenops ocellatus: Effect of Salinity1

Acute toxicity of nitrite to red drum fingerlings was investigated under static conditions in environments containing 36.0 to 0.6 g/L salinity. The 48 h median lethal concentrations ranged from 85.7 mg/L nitrite‐N (36.0 g/L salinity) to 2.8 mg/L nitrite‐N (0.6 g/L salinity). Plasma nitrite concentrations increased with exposure time during a 48 h study and exceeded environmental concentrations in fish exposed to 9.1 and 5.1 mg/L nitrite‐N (1.4 g/L salinity). During 24 h of exposure, methemoglobin levels increased with increasing environmental nitrite conditions in fish exposed to 3, 6 and 9 mg/L nitrite‐N for 24 h (1.4 g/L salinity). The chloride component of salinity was not as effective in preventing nitrite toxicity as in other species of fish, indicating a potential problem for the culture of red drum in low‐salinity waters.