Reported LC50s of hundreds of chemicals and data of many enzymes in many fishes have been reviewed in order to find the hypothesized influence of biotransformation on acute toxicity. 2. Biotransformation of carbaryl was correlated and biotransformation of endrin was inversely correlated with acute toxicity. 3. For most compounds no correlation was found which indicates that either biotransformation is not important in acute toxicity or enzyme activities are not representative parameters to quantify biotransformation reactions.