Toxicity of copper on marine organisms from the Black Sea

Objective: To investigate the effect of copper on Crangon crangon (Linnaeus, 1758) (C. crangon) and Syngnathus acus (Linnaeus, 1758) (S. acus) from Black Sea. Methods: The acute toxicity of copper in water with clean sediment to C. crangon and S. acus from Sinop Peninsula of the Black Sea was evaluated by static 10-day and 21-day bioassays. Results: Mortality of both organisms increased with increase in concentrations of copper. The results showed that S. acus was more sensitive to copper than C. crangon. Conclusions: In the present study, both C. crangon and S. acus have been shown to be a suitable test species to assess heavy metal toxicity using static 21-day and 10-day bioassays.