Ref ID : 6968
B.S. Khangarot; Toxicity of Metals to a Freshwater Tubificid Worm, Tubifex tubifex (Muller). Bull.Environ.Contam.Toxicol. 46:906-912, 1991
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Notes
Salts of various metals are being released in ever increasing amounts into the aquatic environment from mining operations, metal processing facilities, chemical industries and other similar sources (Goldberg 1976). Although there has been considerable study of the acute and chronic toxicities of metals to freshwater fishes (Doudoroff and Katz 1953; Leland and Kuwabara, 1985), crustaceans (Hale 1977; Khangarot and Ray 1989) and snails (Khangarot and Ray 1988), little information is available on the effects of metals to tubificid worms (Jones 1938; Brkovic-Popovic and Popovic 1977) which are widely distributed in the aquatic environment. Tubificid worms are useful indicators of varying degrees of aquatic pollution (Auston 1973). It is suggested that tubificid worms are an important element in the aquatic environment and therefore their use as a bioassay organism is logical one. The importance of using aquatic oligochaetes as test organisms were described in detail by Chapman et al. (1982). The present study was undertaken to determine the acute toxicities of various metals to a freshwater tubificid worm, Tubifex tubifex (Muller), which form an important linke in aquatic food chain(s).