Spermiotoxicity and embryotoxicity of triphenyltin (TPT) to the sea urchin Paracentrotus lividus Lmk

The most important sources of pollution by triphenyltin (TPT) in marine coastal ecosystems are its employment as a fungicide in agriculture and, in association with tributyltin, as a biocide in anti-fouling paints. In this study, spermiotoxicity and embryotoxicity (from post-fertilisation to pluteus stage) experiments were carried out to better clarify the ecotoxicological effects of TPT during the development of the sea urchin Paracentrotus lividus. Sperm exposed to triphenyltin acetate (TPTA) for 60 minutes showed a significantly reduced capability to fertilise eggs even at the lowest concentration of 0.1 \ub5g TPTA l-1. In proportion to increasing concentrations, the percentage of fertilised eggs decreased, falling to 45% at 10 \ub5g TPTA l-1, the maximum tested concentration. In embryotoxicity experiments at 48 h post-fertilisation, the length of the pluteus somatic rods was significantly reduced (P<0.001) from 1.5 \ub5g l-1. Progressive increases in skeletal anomalies were also detected, highly significant (P