Acute toxicity of formaldehyde to marine organisms and risk assessment in aquatic environment with the toxicity data

Abstract

In order to make an ecological risk assessment of formaldehyde in aquatic environment, acute toxicities of formaldehyde to marine diatom Skeletonema costatum, marine zooplankton Tigriopus japonicus and marine fish Sillago japonica have been determined. Among them, S. costatum was the most sensitive organism, i.e. the 96hEC₅₀ was 0.49 mg/L. T. japonicus was the next, i.e. the 24hEC₅₀ and 24hLC₅₀ were 10 mg/L and 11 mg/L, respectively. S. japonica was the least sensitive organism, i.e. the 96hEC₅₀ was 50 mg/L. Further, the no observed effect concentration (NOEC) for S. costatum was calculated to be 0.32 mg/L. Based on the this data set, the predicted no effect concentration (PNEC) of formaldehyde was estimated to be between 10^-3 and 10^-2 mg/L.