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Toxicities of Copper, Zinc, and Cadmium Mixtures to Juvenile Chinook Salmon
Author(s) -
Finlayson B. J.,
Verrue K. M.
Publication year - 1982
Publication title -
transactions of the american fisheries society
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.696
H-Index - 86
eISSN - 1548-8659
pISSN - 0002-8487
DOI - 10.1577/1548-8659(1982)111<645:toczac>2.0.co;2
Subject(s) - chinook wind , juvenile , zinc , cadmium , copper , fishery , chemistry , environmental chemistry , biology , fish <actinopterygii> , ecology , oncorhynchus , organic chemistry
Continual‐flow toxicity tests were conducted to determine the acute toxic effects of copper, zinc, and cadmium mixtures on juvenile chinook salmon Oncorhynchus tshawytscha. Median lethal concentrations during 4 days (96‐hour LC50 values) were most variable for zinc (39 to 122 μg/liter), less so for cadmium (0.6 to 1.6μg/liter), and least variable for copper (26 to 34μg/liter). Sensitivities of fish to metal mixtures also were variable. No synergism occurred among various mixtures of metals; two‐ and three‐metal combinations had additive or antagonistic toxic effects. A decrease in the copper:zinc (from 1:3 to 1:12) and copper:cadmium (from 1:0.028 to 1:0.083) ratios decreased the toxicity of mixtures. Water‐quality criteria for the protection of fish against mixtures of metals probably need to be developed on a site‐specific and ratio‐specific basis with repetitive toxicity tests.