title: Sensitivity of the freshwater prawn, Macrobrachium lanchesteri (Crustacea: Decapoda), to heavy metals.
abstract: Adult Macrobrachium lanchesteri were exposed for a 4-day period in laboratory conditions to a range of copper (Cu), cadmium (Cd), zinc (Zn) and lead (Pb) concentrations. Mortality was assessed and median lethal times (LT₅₀) and concentrations (LC₅₀) were calculated. At the end of the 4-day period, live prawns were used to determine bioconcentration of the metals. LT₅₀ and LC₅₀ increased with the decrease in mean exposure concentrations and times, respectively, for all metals. LC₅₀s for 96 hours for Cu, Cd, Zn and Pb were 32.3, 7.0, 525.1 and 35.0 µg/L, respectively. Cu, Cd, Zn and Pb bioconcentration in M. lanchesteri increases with exposure to increasing concentrations and Cd was the most toxic to M. lanchesteri, followed by Pb, Cu and Zn. Comparison of LC₅₀ values for metals for this species with those for other freshwater crustacean organisms reveals that M. lanchesteri is equally or more sensitive to heavy metals than most other tested crustaceans.
authors.affiliation: School of Environmental and Natural Resource Sciences, Faculty of Science and Technology, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM), Bangi, Selangor, Malaysia. shuhaimi@ukm.my
authors.forename: Mohammad
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Shuhaimi-Othman
authors.forename: Nadzifah
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Yakub
authors.forename: Nur-Amalina
authors.initials: NA
authors.lastname: Ramle
authors.forename: Ahmad
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Abas
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D007928:Lethal Dose 50; D019216:Metals, Heavy / Q000493:pharmacokinetics / Q000633:toxicity*; D033541:Palaemonidae / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000378:metabolism; D018675:Toxicity Tests; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical / Q000493:pharmacokinetics / Q000633:toxicity*
chemical_list: D019216:Metals, Heavy; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical