INFLUENCE OF NO. 2 FUEL OIL 
ON SURVIVAL 
AND REPRODUCTION 
OF FOUR MARINE INVERTEBRATES 
J. A. Pechenik, D. M. Johns, and D. C. Miller 
Environmental Research Laboratory 
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency 
Narragansett, Rhode Island 02882 
ABSTRACT 
Responses to the water accommodated fraction of No. 2 fuel oil were 
determined in three marine gastropods (Nassarius obsoletus, Crepidula 
fornicata and Urosalpinx cinerea), and one Crustacean ( Cancer irroratus'). 
Experiments were conducted in either flowing or static systems at the 
following nominal oil concentrations: 0.0 ppm (control), 0.01 ppm, 0.1 ppm, 
1.0 ppm. Mortality of adults and larvae was consistently pronounced only at a 
nominal concentration of 1.0 ppm. Toxicity to adult TV. obsoletus at this 
concentration was greater during the winter than during the summer. Presence 
of sediment accelerated mortality during the summer, but had no effect on 
winter mortality. Exposure of adult N. obsoletus and U. cinerea to oil 
concentrations as low as 0.01 ppm and 0.1 ppm, respectively, interferred with 
normal patterns of egg capsule deposition. Exposure to oil did not alter the 
number of eggs/capsule in N. obsoletus or U. cinerea, and embryos produced 
by oil-exposed snails were viable. Fecundity of N. obsoletus may be reduced at 
a nominal concentration of 0.10 ppm. Growth rates of larval N. obsoletus and 
C. fornicata were reduced at nominal levels of 0.01 ppm and greater. Larvae of 
C. irroratus reared at a nominal concentration of 0.1 ppm weighed less at all 
zoeal stages relative to controls, even though carapace length of each larval 
stage, and time required to reach the megalops stage of development, were not 
altered. 
INTRODUCTION 
Lethal effects of petroleum hydrocarbons have been documented for a 
« variety of marine organisms (21), including zooplankton (20) and both adult 
and developmental stages of benthic invertebrates (2, 9, 11, 19). Sublethal 
concentrations of hydrocarbons are also known to interfere with aspects of 
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