Copper LC50 toCyprinus carpio.influence of hardness, seasonal variation, proposition of maximum acceptable toxicant concentration.

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Abstract
Acceptable concentrations of heavy metals in the aquatic environment are normally assessed through the evaluation of the lethal concentration in acute intoxication. Research work has been carried out to identify values of 48 h copper LC50 for Cyprinus carpio under well defined experimental conditions and to discuss limitations rising from the definition of maximum acceptable toxicant concentrations as a fraction of LC50. Results have shown a fair stability of the biological material used and that, for a water hardness of 50 mg.l‐1, sensitivities of Cyprinus carpio and Salmo gairdneri are similar, the former being more resistant for hardness values higher than 50 mg. l‐1. Since Cyprinus carpio can be taken as a representative species for second class European rivers and provided that its LC50 is in the same order of magnitude of other species it is proposed as the standard organism for evaluation of maximum acceptable concentration in copper.