Zinc selenite

Long-term toxicity to fish

Description of key information

Freshwater:

Reliable chronic toxicity data were identified for 12 freshwater fish species i.e., Danio rerio, Jordanella floridae, Phoxinus phoxinus,

Pimephales promelas, Oncorhynchus mykiss, Salvelinus fontinalis, Salmo trutta, Cottus bairdi, Acipenser transmontanus,

Cirrhinus mrigala, Cyprinus carpio and Gobiocypris rarus.

Toxicity data was also available for one amphibian, i.e., the leopard frog Lithobates chiricahuensis,

 

Non-normalised geomean species NOECs ranged between 26 (Jordanella floridae) and 1184 (Cyprinus carpio) µg Zn/l (dissolved concentrations).

 

The non-normalised chronic toxicity values for the sturgeon Acipenser transmontanus varied between 53 µg Zn/L (53 d exposure;

endpoint weight) and 257 µg Zn/L (28 d exposure; endpoint length). For the mrigal carp Cirrhinus mrigala a NOEC of 100 µg Zn/L

(30 d of exposure; endpoint growth) was observed, for Gobiocypris rarus a LC10 of 78 µg Zn/L (75 h of exposure; endpoint mortality),

for the flagfish Jordanella floridae a NOEC of 26 µg Zn/L (30 d of exposure; endpoint growth), for the common minnow Phoxinus

phoxinus a NOEC of 50 µg Zn/L (5 months of exposure; endpoint growth/mortality), for the fathead minnow Pimephales promelas a

NOEC of 78 µg Zn/L (8 months of exposure; endpoint reproduction), for the brook trout Salvelinus fontinalis a NOEC of 534 µg Zn/L

(36 months of exposure; endpoint hatching) while for the common carp Cyprinus carpio a LC10 of 1184 µg Zn/L (endpoint mortality)

was noted. The non-normalised chronic toxicity values for the mottled sculpin Cottus bairdi varied between 24.6 µg Zn/L and 172 µg

Zn/L (endpoint mortality). For the zebra fish Danio rerio non-normalised chronic toxicity values varied between 180 and 2900 µg Zn/L

(14 days of exposure) for the endpoint hatching. For the rainbow trout Oncorhynchus mykiss non-normalised chronic toxicity values

varied between 32 and 974 µg Zn/L (30 d of exposure) for the endpoint mortality, while for another salmonid Salmo trutta (brown trout)

the non-normalised chronic toxicity values varied between 57 and 250 µg Zn/L (116 d of exposure) for the endpoint hatching. Toxicity

data was also available for one amphibian, i.e., the leopard frog Lithobates chiricahuensis, with non-normalised 60 d chronic toxicity

values of 62 µg Zn/L for the different endpoints tested such as mortality and growth.

 

Marine:
Data on 1 species available: Etroplus suratensis. A 30 d NOEC of 1480 µg Zn/L is reported for the endpoint mortality using fingerlings

at test initiation.

 

 

Species NOECs have been put into the respective species sensitivity distributions.

Additional information

Extensive high quality chronic data were available on 12 (freshwater) and 1 (marine) fish species and 1 (freshwater) amphibian. These data were all screened for relevancy to the environment under study.

 

The freshwater species are part of 5 families: Cyprinodontidae (Jordanella floridae), Cyprinidae (Pimephales promelas, Cyprinus carpio, Danio rerio, Gobiocypris rarus, Cirrhinus mrigala, Phoxinus phoxinus ), Salmonidae (Salmo trutta, Oncorhynchus mykiss, Salvelinus fontinalis ), Acipenseridae (Acipenser transmontanus) and Cottidae (Cottus bairdi ). The sensitivity of these species is equally distributed over the species sensitivity distribution. The fish and amphibian species NOECs are combined with the other freshwater chronic data in the SSD to give the HC5 from which the PNEC is derived.

 

The saltwater species belongs to the family Cichlidae (Etroplus suratensi). This species is not among the most sensitive ones in the species sensitivity distribution. The fish species NOEC is combined with the other marine chronic data in the SSD to give the HC5 from which the PNEC saltwater is derived.