Abstract
Two separate embryo through adult exposures were conducted with cadmium and with reduced pH levels to validate various test methodologies and to determine the feasibility of testing and ease of handling the freshwater snail (Aplexa hypnorum) in a test system designed for fish bioassays. Exposure of snails from embryos through adult reproductive maturity to cadmium chloride produced delayed hatch, reductions in percentage hatch and survival, and reduced growth when compared to a control. Based on these effects, the maximum acceptable toxicant concentration in Lake Superior water was between 4.41 and 7.63 μg cadmium/L in one test and between 2.50 and 4.79 μg cadmium/L in another test. Adult snails were exposed to determine a 96-hr LC50 of 93 μg cadmium/L. Exposure of embryonic, larval and adult snails to a pH range of 5.00–5.75 caused delayed hatching, reduced combined hatchability and survival, reduced 26-day growth, and a reduction in the number of egg masses per adult snail. No adverse effects were observed in snails exposed for 26 days to pH values ranging from 6.25 to 6.65. During a short-term static exposure, a pH of 4.3 caused a cloudy appearance in eggs within the egg mass and killed the embryos within two hr of the start of the exposure. A static pH exposure of 4.6 also turned embryos slightly cloudy, although some development did occur in these embryos by the sixth day.
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Holcombe, G.W., Phipps, G.L. & Marier, J.W. Methods for conducting snail (Aplexa hypnorum) embryo through adult exposures: Effects of cadmium and reduced pH levels. Arch. Environ. Contam. Toxicol. 13, 627–634 (1984). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01056342
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01056342