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Title: Illinois River fingernail clam toxicity study. Final report, 1 July 1990--31 December 1991

Technical Report ·
OSTI ID:299920

A filtering performance bioassay was developed for the fingernail clam, Musculium transversum, a dominant bottom-dwelling organism in many waters of the midwestern United States, and a key in food chains leading from organic matter in water and sediment to fish and ducks valued by humans. The bioassay was used with a battery of standard bioassays to assess the toxicity of porewaters obtained from sediments of the Illinois River and its associated canal (known collectively as the Illinois Waterway), where fingernail clams and other benthic macroinvertebrates died out in 1955--1958 and have not recolonized, despite the availability of seed populations in tributaries and isolated refugia within the river. Inhibition of filtering performance was easily measured with relatively simple equipment available in most laboratories and proved be directly related to the concentration of a reference toxicant, sodium cyanide.

Research Organization:
Illinois Natural History Survey, Center for Aquatic Ecology, Havana, IL (United States); Fish and Wildlife Restoration Program, Washington, DC (United States); Illinois Dept. of Conservation, Springfield, IL (United States)
OSTI ID:
299920
Report Number(s):
PB-99-114043/XAB; AQUATIC ECOLOGY-TR-93/5; TRN: 83650683
Resource Relation:
Other Information: DN: See also PB93-127827.; PBD: 1998
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English