The following wood or cellulose degrading fungi have been shown to grow on 

 an artificial estuarine salt media spiked with TBTO-C1 and to metabolize 

 the compound: Ooniophora puteana . Sistotrema brinkmanii . and Ooriolus 

 versicolor (Olson et al., 1986). Tributyltin has been found to be toxic 

 to estuarine bacteria generally at concentrations as low as 5 ug/1 using 

 thymidine or glutamate metabolism methodology for toxicity assess m e n t. 



4.3.2 Ihytoplankton/Zooplankton 



Table 4.8 lists the algae for which ECgQ values have been determined. 

 Some of these algae have also been shown to metabolize and debutylate 

 TBT. These algae include Ankistrodesmus falcatus , Skeletonema costatum . 

 Ooniophora puteana . and Trametes versicolor . To date, studies have not 

 established effects of tributyltin an phytoplankton productivity or on 

 zooplankton grazing. The most abundant and frequently the most important 

 grazer in the zooplankton is the copepod. The only copepcd to be tested 

 so far has been the common estuarine species Acartia tonsa . 



4.3.3 Crustaceans 



The most sensitive of the crustaceans tested to date has been the marine 

 Mysid Acanthomysis sculpta which demonstrated reproductive inhibition at 

 0.19 ug/1. The second most sensitive is the freshwater cladoceran Daphnia 

 magna which shows serious behavioral changes at 5.0 ug/1. Laughlin and 

 French (1980) have found a 90% decrease in growth of American lobster 

 (Homarus americanus) larvae in static renewal studies at 1.0 ug/1 TBTO. 

 Toxicity studies in general with crustaceans have found that the effects 

 level is occurring in the low parts per billion range (see Table 4.9). 

 However, the results presented in this table are difficult to compare 

 because of the differences in test protocols. 



4.3.4 Shellfish 



More studies have been conducted on the TBT toxic effects and mechanisms 

 with shellfish than any other group, due to their commercial fisheries 

 value and to the low threshold effects levels (ng/1) . As a group they 

 appear to be the most sensitive organisms that have been exposed to 

 tributyltin. 



IV-12 



