Comparative toxicity of an effluent from a chlor-alkali industry and HgCl2
Release of waste waters from industries severely affect aquatic flora and fauna. Effluents from industries involved in the production of pesticides, or from industries utilizing toxic substances in their production processes are of particular concern. One such industry, the chlor-alkali industry, utilizes mercury as a cathode in an electrolytic process. The present study reports the toxicity assessment of the effluent from a chlor-alkali factor, Jayshree Chemicals Ltd., Ganjam, Orissa. The reported production capacity of the plant is 50 tons of NaOH per day. The effluent discharged, 50,000 1 per day, contains mercury ranging up to 1.5 mg/l, much more than the permissible limit of 0.01 mg/l set by the Central Board for the Prevention and Control of Water Pollution, India. The effluent enters the Rushikulya River Estuary and finally the Bay of Bengal. This paper was also designed to determine whether the mercury present in the effluent was toxic or whether the toxicity involved some other parameters of the effluent as well.
Acute toxicity of 12 industrial chemicals to freshwater and saltwater organisms
Abstract Aquatic animal toxicity is a major criterion used by the U.S. EPA to designate and classify hazardous substances other than oil. This research developed basic toxicity data for twelve industrial chemicals with which little or no previous testing had been done. Static 96h toxicity tests were performed with one freshwater species (fathead minnow, Pimephales promelas ) and one saltwater species (grass shrimp, Palaemonetes pugio or white shrimp, Penaeus setiferus ) on the following chemicals: ammonium fluoride, arsenic trisulfide, benzoyl chloride, benzyl chloride, cupric acetate, o -dichlorobenzene, p -dichlorobenzene, mercuric acetate, mercuric thiocyanate, resorcinol, sodium hypochlorite and toluene-2,4-diisocyanate (TDI). As defined by 96 h LC50's ≤ 500 mg l −1 , all 12 chemicals were hazardous to freshwater minnows, and all but TDI were hazardous to saltwater shrimp. The physicochemical behaviors of the compounds greatly influenced their aquatic toxicities.
New records of Grania (Clitellata, Enchytraeidae) in the Northeast Atlantic (from Tromsø to the Canary Islands), with descriptions of seven new species
Previous northeast Atlantic records of Grania have been mainly from Germany, southern Scandinavia, and the Atlantic shores of France, Spain and Ireland. They were referred to eight species, with one, G. atlantica, reported from the continental slope. We have examined various unpublished collections from sources spanning from the Canary Islands to the Norwegian Arctic. Apart from new information on morphology, taxonomy, and distribution of known species, we describe seven new taxa (G. canaria, G. fortunata, G. mauretanica, G. aquitana, G. vikinga, G. torosa, and G. papillinasus). The collection of G. papillinasus from 2630-2885 m represents a new depth record for Enchytraeidae. Twenty-five of the now 57 Grania species occur in the North Atlantic. The North Atlantic drift moderates sea temperatures along the northeast Atlantic coasts, probably facilitating the wide latitudinal range of some taxa, as well as actual dispersal within the region. A "chaetal index" (chaetal length : chaetal foot length) is proposed to differentiate L-shaped chaetae at the species level. Complex relationships within the "type 6 group" of Grania suggest that groupings established using certain combinations of penial, chaetal and spermathecal patterns may not be monophyletic. For a better phylogenetic resolution, additional morphological details of these and other characters are needed.