Acute Toxicity of the Oil Dispersant Corexit 9554 to Marine Organisms

The acute toxicity of a surfactant-based oil dispersant, Corexit 9554, to the early life stages of four marine species was identified using a closed, flow-through exposure system. Standardized, spiked exposures were used in order to impart a measure of reality to the data. The species were taxonomically diverse: a mollusc, the red abalone (Haliotis rufescens); a fish, the topsmelt (Atherinops affinis); a crustacean, the kelp forest mysid (Holmesimysis costata); and a macroalga, the giant kelp (Macrocystis pyrifera). Results indicated the Haliotis test to be most sensitive, followed by the Macrocystis test, and the Atherinops test, with the Holmesimysis test being least sensitive. Median-effect concentration estimates for the four species ranged from 8.0 to 184.3 initial ppm, a >20-fold difference. Differences in sensitivity of the four tests were likely the result of both internal (morphological, physiological, etc.) and external (life stage, endpoint, etc.) factors.