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Lethal levels of hypoxia for gulf coast estuarine animals

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Abstract

There is increasing concern about eutrophication and subsequent hypoxia problems in estuaries. The US Environmental Protection Agency has developed Water Quality Criteria (WQC) for dissolved oxygen (DO) in saltwater for Cape Cod, MA to Cape Hatteras, NC but inadequate data exists for development of such criteria for other coastal geographic areas. We performed acute tests with two species of crustaceans and seven species of estuarine fishes native to the Gulf of Mexico to complement the data base for northeastern species. Flow-through tests were conducted for either 24- or 48-h at test temperatures from 24 to 28°C and at salinities from 20 to 31.5‰. Estimated 24-h LC50 values obtained for crustaceans ranged from 1.36 mg/l for adult pink shrimp to 1.56 mg/l for 10-day-old mysids. Similarly, estimated LC50 values for fish ranged from 1.34 mg/l in one of the three tests with pinfish to 2.22 mg/l in one of the two tests with scaled sardines. The majority of mortality attributable to low DO concentrations in our experiments usually occurred within the first 4 h of exposure. LC50 values for the species tested are below the WQC recommended protective limit of 2.3 mg/l for juvenile and adult animals.

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Acknowledgments

We thank Charles Bidwell, Seton Bonney, Esther Cornfeld, Edward Sherwood, Melissa Smith, and Jace Tunnel for assistance in maintaining the exposure organisms and performing the experiments and Stephen Embry and David Owens (CSC Corp, El Segundo, CA, USA) for preparing the figure. We also thank personnel of the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, Corpus Christi, TX for providing spotted seatrout for testing and personnel of the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, Stock Enhancement Research Facility, Port Manatee, FL for providing juvenile red drum. The exposure water preparation and delivery system was designed and fabricated by R.H. Creager, Inc of Kenner, USA . This is contribution no. 1253 of the US Environmental Protection Agency, National Health and Environmental Effects Research Laboratory, Gulf Ecology Division. Mentioning of trade names, commercial products, or vendors does not constitute endorsement or recommendation for use by the US Environmental Protection Agency. All experiments were performed in the United States in compliance with relevant laws and regulations.

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Correspondence to Larry R. Goodman.

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Communicated by P.W. Sammarco.

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Goodman, L.R., Campbell, J.G. Lethal levels of hypoxia for gulf coast estuarine animals. Mar Biol 152, 37–42 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00227-007-0685-1

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