Acute toxicity of tralopyril, capsaicin and triphenylborane pyridine to marine invertebrates

Abstract

A need for environmentally acceptable alternative antifouling (AF) biocides has arisen through restrictions in the use of many common biocides in the European Union through the Biocidal Product Regulation (Regulation EU No. 528/2012). Three such alternatives are triphenylborane pyridine (TPBP), tralopyril and capsaicin. This study aims at extending the available information on the toxicity of these three emerging AF biocides to key marine invertebrates. Here we investigate the toxicity of tralopyril and capsaicin to the early life stages of the mussel Mytilus galloprovincialis and the sea urchin Paracentrotus lividus and also of tralopyril, capsaicin and TPBP to the early life stages of the copepod Tisbe battagliai. The EC50 that causes abnormal development of mussel's D-veliger larvae and impairs the growth of sea urchin pluteus larvae are respectively 3.1 and 3.0 μg/L for tralopyril and 3,868 and 5,248 μg/L for capsaicin. Regarding the copepod T. battagliai, the LC50 was 0.9 μg/L for tralopyril, 1,252 μg/L for capsaicin and 14 μg/L for TPBP. The results obtained for the three substances are compared to a reference AF biocide, tributyltin (TBT), and their ecological risk evaluated. These compounds pose a lower environmental risk than TBT but still, our results suggest that tralopyril and TPBP may represent a considerable threat to the ecosystems.