Preliminary assessment of Ostreopsis cfr. ovata acute toxicity by using a battery bioassay.

Ostreopsis cfr. ovata toxicity has been estimated through acute bioassays by using four crustacean species (Artemia franciscana, Tigriopus fulvus, Corophium insidiosum and Sphaeroma serratum). The benthic dinoflagellate showed significant toxicity towards all the tested crustaceans, which have usually exhibited the highest mortalities with the increasing of the dinoflagellate cell concentration. Furthermore, our results evidenced an higher sensitivity of A. franciscana larvae to Ostreopsis, respect to the other species. The results of our bioassays highlighted the usefulness of employing a base-set of different species rather than those derived from a single species, in order to obtain more reliable information on the algal toxicity