Actual survey on TLm (median tolerance limit) values of environmental pollutants, especially on amines, nitriles, aromatic nitrogen compounds and artificial dyes.

Forty-four kinds of organic nitrogen compounds as well as 37 kinds of dyes which contained nitrogen were subjected to TLm test by use of Himedaka (Oryzias latipes) and the results were compared with their partition coefficients between n-octanol and water. Concerning organic nitrogen compounds, such good correlation was observed among them that the larger the partition coefficient was, the smaller was the TLm value. Their acute toxicity to fish was supposed to be revealed after their passage through cell membrane of fish to be accumulated in the body. As far as coal-tar dyes and dyestuffs were concerned, there was a correlation between partition coefficient and TLm value. Methylene blue and rose bengale showed strong acute toxicity to fish and it was assumed that high affinity of these dyes to gill was responsible to depressing the function of gill, to make fish suffer from anoxemia and die.