Instituto Valenciano de Microbiología
(IVAMI)

Masía El Romeral
Ctra. de Bétera a San Antonio Km. 0.3
46117 Bétera (Valencia)
Phone. 96 169 17 02
Fax 96 169 16 37
Email: 
www.ivami.com
CIF B-96337217

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Ecotoxicity - Marine crustaceans Palaemon serratus or Palaemus elegans (UNE 77105: 2014 Standard).

The UNE 77105: 2014 standard describes a test method for the determination of the ecotoxicity of a dispersant by studying the acute toxicity of the product in the crustaceans Palaemon serratus or Palaemon elegans. This standard is applicable to all dispersants that can be used in the marine environment to combat accidental contamination with hydrocarbons.

In this test, after a period of acclimatization in filtered seawater, groups of 30 crustaceans are exposed in tanks with a volume of 16 L at concentrations of 200 mg/L, 400 mg/L, 800 mg/L and 1.600 mg/L of dispersant in filtered seawater, and kept at 15°C ± 1°C under stirring for 6 hours. In parallel, a negative control and positive controls must be performed with three concentrations of a reference toxic. After the exposure, the crustaceans are transferred to recovery tanks with filtered seawater, where they are kept for 24 hours. After this time, the assay is finished, the mortality is recorded in each concentration and the lethal concentration of the dispersant that causes 50% mortality (LC50) is determined.

The result of the ecotoxicity bioassay with Palaemon serratus or Palaemon elegans is considered negative (non ecotoxiuc) when the LC50 of the dispersant is greater than ten times the LC50 of the reference toxin, while otherwise the result is positive (ecotoxic).