51 

 JOHN VLASTELICIA 

 solids content exceeded about 30 percent. In large por- 

 tions of the sludge covered areas only one kind of 

 benthos was found and this was a pollution tolerant 

 species of worm. 



These observations of damage to marine 

 life within the zone of acute pollution are not surprising. 

 On the contrary, it would have been very surprising if 

 such damages were not observed, since pollution levels in 

 these areas are often well above those already known to 

 be toxic to marine life. 



Not so obvious, but of more far-reaching 

 importance, are damages occurring to sensitive marine forms 

 in the zone of chronic pollution. Recall that in this zone 

 the main pollutional impact is the presence of dilute and 

 often very dilute concentrations of sulfite waste liquor 

 in the near surface waters. However, it is also in these 

 waters where are harbored many of the very sensitive 

 marine forms, the plankton, the egg and larval stages of 

 most marine life. 



At some phase of its life cycle, almost 

 every marine animal is planktonic, that is it drifts 

 passively with the currents or with only limited mobility 

 of its own. For many of the finfishes and shellfishes of 



Puget Sound this planktonic phase occurs during early 



