A bioassay using sea urchin egg development to identify organotin pollution in sea water

Recording the effects of organotin compounds on sea urchin and mollusk egg development is valuable for marine pollution studies. The results of sea urchin egg bioassays to assess organotin pollution in the surface and bottom waters and sediment pore water at sites around Hatakejima Island in Tanabe Bay are reported. Completely normal developmental rates occurred at a tributyltin (TBT) concentration of 0.01 mgL1. When clean mud was stored at cool temperatures for one month with water containing TBT, the TBT concentration that did not affect fertilization and development of eggs was 10,000 times higher than the TBT concentration in seawater samples that had no effect on sea urchin egg development. Thus, the mud may absorb and help degrade TBT