Development of Water Quality Criteria for Fenneropenaeus indicus Against Arsenic by Flow-through System in the Central West Coast of India at Goa

Abstract

Toxicants as chemical hazard are very common to the surroundings that cause adverse effects on health and environment. The outbreak of toxicity can easily be identified in the aquatic environment and necessary methodology can be applied for water quality criteria development by reducing common sources of toxic elements in the environment. The concern over the use of toxicants causing environmental threat in form of pollution and toxicity risk to non-target organisms has been reported worldwide. Thus, the study has been conducted to estimate the toxic effect of arsenic through acute assay with white prawn. Individuals of larval stage (0.25 ± 0.10g) were acclimated under test conditions (salinity 31.0 ± 1.0%, temperature 29 ± 1.0 ºC, dissolved oxygen 5.25 ± 0.2mg.l-1, pH 8.2 ± 0.5) and exposed to arsenic at 0.15, 0.30, 0.60, 1.20 and 2.40mg.l-1 with seawater as control. Tests were run in Flow through system with the above five concentrations in duplicate. Mortality was observed for different time intervals of 24h for next four days, lethal dose concentration (LC50) and 95% of confidence limit was calculated using statistical software such as Probit analysis method. Mean LC50 value after 96h of exposure duration was estimated as 0.08mg.l-1. The results of the study were highly helpful in developing water quality criteria for this region.