ABSTRACT
Sediment toxicity tests are used routinely within Canada and elsewhere to determine and monitor the adverse biological effects of substances that might be harmful to indigenous aquatic life in the environment. The Marine Environmental Quality Advisory Group of Environment Canada and Canada's Inter-Governmental Aquatic Toxicity Group (IGATG) recommended that a battery of sediment testing methods be developed for routine use in evaluating and managing contaminated sediment in the marine environment. With the development of sublethal tests such as growth, the small size of juvenile or young polychaetes used in ecotoxicology testing necessitates the miniaturization of experimental setups. Two species of polychaetes, Polydora cornuta and Boccardia proboscidea, of the family Spionidae, have shown a resilience to some noncontaminant effects. At the present time both P. cornuta and B. proboscidea might be used as bioassay test organisms for whole sediment destined for marine disposal.
