ABSTRACT
Embryos and larvae of marine organisms have been used for water quality assessments for many years. These developing systems were often used to test the quality of sea waters and for determining potential impacts of anthropogenic activities near urbanized regions. Three groups of developing systems have been utilized for the majority of these studies: echinoderms, mollusks, and the brown algae. The chapter discusses the application of these species to solving problems associated with contamination in the marine environment. It highlights key aspects of several of these systems which make them particularly well suited for studies on the cellular basis of ecotoxicology. Echinoderms are attractive marine systems for the study of xenobiotic action at cellular and biochemical levels. Developing mollusk embryos have also been employed for many years for assessing water quality; for these studies, the organisms of choice have been bivalves, including oysters and mussels.
