Chronic toxicity of ocean-dumped pharmaceutical wastes to the marine amphipod Amphithoe valida

The toxic effects of ocean-dumped pharmaceutical wastes on a marine amphipod Amphithoe valida increased with increasing duration of exposure and waste concentration. Amphipods chronically exposed to waste concentrations ≥ 1% had lower survival rates and reduced fecundity when compared to control groups. The parent amphipods exposed to 3% waste had 100% mortality by week 3, while those exposed to ≤ 2% waste were able to survive over 2 months. Larvae (F₁) of the treated amphipods survived shorter periods, 6 weeks for the 2% and 13 weeks for the 1% group. The total progeny produced by the treated amphipods (20/treatment) during the experiment dropped from 89 (F₁) to 20 (F₂) for the 1%, and from 26 (F₁) to 1 (F₂) for the 2% group. No offspring were recorded for amphipods exposed to 3% waste. For the corresponding period, the controls yielded 196 and 99 larvae respectively.