Acute toxicity of agricultural pesticides to embryo-larval and juvenile African catfish Clarias gariepinus.

Acute toxicities of Tihan 175 O-TEQ, as well as its active ingredients flubendiamide and spirotetramat, and of Thionex 350 EC (active compound endosulfan) were measured for embryo-larval and juvenile stages of the African catfish Clarias gariepinus to assess risks of pesticide use in the cotton basin in Benin (West Africa). For embryo-larval stages, Tihan was more toxic (LC5048h 20 ppm) than Thionex (LC5048h 56 ppm), and flubendiamide was more toxic (LC5048h 2.0 ppm) than spirotetramat (LC5048h 8.44 ppm). All decreased hatching rates. Tihan and spirotetramat disturbed larval swimming coordination; flubendiamide induced tail cleavage. For juvenile fish, Thionex was more toxic (LC5096h 0.22 ppm) than Tihan (LC5096h 8.8 ppm), and flubendiamide (LC5096h 4.7 ppm) was more toxic than spirotetramat (LC5096h 6.0 ppm). Eggs were more resistant than juvenile fish to all tested pesticides except flubendiamide. Although Thionex was more toxic to juvenile fish, replacing Thionex with Tihan may be undesirable for survival of eggs and larvae.