A Comparison of Short‐Term and Continuous Exposures in Toxicity Tests of Produced Waters, Condensate, and Crude Oil to Marine Invertebrates and Fish

Petroleum hydrocarbons can be discharged into the marine environment during offshore oil and gas production or as a result of oil spills, with potential impacts on marine organisms. Ecotoxicological assay durations (typically 24–96 h) used to characterize risks to exposed organisms may not always reflect realistic environmental exposure durations in a high‐energy offshore environment where hydrocarbons are mixed and diluted rapidly in the water column. To investigate this, we adapted 3 sensitive toxicity tests to incorporate a short‐term pulse exposure to 3 petroleum‐based products: a produced water, the water‐accommodated fraction (WAF) of a condensate, and a crude oil WAF. We measured 48‐h mobility of the copepod Acartia sinjiensis, 72‐h larval development of the sea urchin Heliocidaris tuberculata, and 48‐h embryo survival and deformities of yellowtail kingfish Seriola lalandi, after exposure to a dilution series of each of the 3 products for 2, 4 to 12, and 24 h and for the standard duration of each toxicity test (continuous exposure). Effects on copepod survival and sea urchin larval development were significantly reduced in short‐term exposures to produced water and WAFs compared to continuous exposures. Fish embryos, however, showed an increased frequency of deformities at elevated concentrations regardless of exposure duration, although there was a trend toward increased severity of deformities with continuous exposure. The results demonstrate how exposure duration alters toxic response and how incorporating relevant exposure duration to contaminants into toxicity testing may aid interpretation of more realistic effects (and hence an additional line of evidence in risk assessment) in the receiving environment. Environ Toxicol Chem 2021;40:2587–2600. © 2021 CSIRO. Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of SETAC.