Toxicity and Metabolism of Naphthalene: A Study with Marine Larval Invertebrates

Abstract

Summary

[l-¹⁴C]Naphthalene and the [l-¹⁴C]naphthalene complexed with BSA at 8-12 ppb in flowing sea water produced 100% mortality in 24-36 hr in newly hatched Dungeness crab (Cancer magister) zoea and stage I and V spot shrimp (Pandalus platyceros). Maximum accumulation of [1-¹⁴C]naphthalene in the stage V spot shrimp exposed to [l-¹⁴C]naphthalene was nearly four times greater than in shrimp exposed to the [l-¹⁴C]naphthalene-BSA complex (820 and 220 ppb, respectively). These values represent a magnification of 25-100 times the exposure levels. Metabolic products of [l-¹⁴C]naphthalene in larval tissues exposed to the complexed and noncomplexed naphthalene reached a maximum of 21 and 9%, respectively, of the total radioactive compounds (based on the molecular weight of naphthol). [l-¹⁴C]Naphthalene was almost entirely depurated from the tissues in 24-36 hr, whereas metabolic products were strongly resistant to depuration.

This research was supported in part by NOAA's Environmental Research Laboratories Outer Continental Shelf Environmental' Assessment Programs under funding from the Bureau of Land Management.