7091

• UCREFRP Catalog Number: 7091
• Author: Eisler, R.
• Title: Tin Hazards to Fish, Wildlife, and Invertebrates
• USFW Year: 1989.
• USFW - Doc Type: A Synoptic Review.
• Copyright Material: NO

homologous series, that diorganotins are less toxic than the corresponding
triorganotins (Table 8). It was concluded that the toxicity of organotins to
crab zoeae seems to be a function of the hydrophobic characteristics conferred
by the number and structure of the organic ligands (Laughlin et al. 1985).
Signs of tributyltin poisoning in rainbow trout and other freshwater
teleosts include sluggishness; loss of appetite; altered body pigmentation;
air gulping; loss of positive rheotaxis; increased rate of opercular
movements; damaged gills, cornea, and epithelial cells of bile duct; and
increases in blood hemoglobin, erythrocyte number, and hematocrit
(Chliamovitch and Kuhn 1977; Thompson et al. 1985). These changes were
consistent with the known inhibitory effects on mitochondrial and oxidative
phosphorylation of triorganotin compounds. Suppression of regeneration in
echinoderms, and presumably other aquatic groups, may be due primarily to
neurotoxicological action of organotins, or secondarily by direct action on
tissue at the breakage point (Walsh et al. 1986b).
Studies on lethal and sublethal effects of tin compounds to
representative species of aquatic organisms demonstrate that organotin
compounds are more toxic than inorganic tin compounds; triorganotin compounds
are more toxic than mono-, di-, or tetraorgano forms; and tributyltin
compounds are the most toxic triorganotin compounds tested (Table 9). Adverse
effects of tributyltins were noted at water concentrations of 0.001 to 0.06
ug/l in marine gastropod and bivalve molluscs and at 0.1 to 1 ug/l in algae,
echinoderms, fish, crustaceans, and coelenterates (Table 9). In order of
toxicity, tributyltins were followed by tripropyltins (harmful effects
recorded at 0.001 to 10 ug/l to gastropods, fish, and algae), tripeenyltins
(0.6 to 1 ug/l to diatoms and annelids), triethyltins (3.8 to 10 ug/l to fish
and algae), trimethyltins (20 ug/l to algae and crustaceans), and
tripentyltins (50 to 100 ug/l to gastropods). Because many organotin
compounds are slow-acting poisons, short-term toxicity tests seriously
underestimate the toxicity of these compounds (Laughlin and Linden 1985).
Biological factors known to modify lethal and sublethal effects of
organotins include age of the organism, inherent interspecies resistance, and
tissue specificity. Abiotic modifiers include exposure route, and
physicochemical regimen. Early developmental stages were more sensitive to
organotins than later developmental stages in marine annelids (Walsh et al.
1986a), mysid shrimp (Hall and Pinkney 1985), and rainbow trout (Thompson et
al. 1985). Mortality of zoeae of fiddler crabs (Uca pugilator) to
trimethyltins was greatest at elevated temperatures and low salinities
(Thompson et al. 1985). Mussels expused through a diet of algae showed slow
accumulation of organotins when compared to exposure from the medium; the
reverse was observed for crabs (Evans and Laughlin 1984; Hall and Pinkney
1985; Laughlin et al. 1986a). A marine diatom (Thalassiosira pseudonana)
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