Proposal of a chronic toxicity test using the tropical epibenthic amphipod Parhyale hawaiensis.

Chronic toxicity tests with representative organisms are essential for ecological risk assessment. The circumtropical marine amphipod Parhyale hawaiensis is a promising test organism in ecotoxicology. This study aimed to develop a chronic toxicity protocol for liquid samples testing with P. hawaiensis using reproduction and growth as endpoints. In the proposed protocol, organisms (≤52 days old) are placed in 5 replicates each containing 100 mL of solution, 10 organisms, and 5 g of crushed coral for 42 days of exposure. The protocol was successfully developed but reproduction showed better performance than growth rate. NOECs based on reproduction were determined for zinc (0.10 mg Zn L) and 3,4-DCA (0.50 mg L), and they are of the same order of magnitude compared with the values of other amphipods. The developed test based on reproduction can be considered a promising tool for hazard characterizations although more tests with different substances are still needed.