Sodium dodecyl sulphate

Short-term toxicity to fish

Description of key information

96h-LC50 = 29 mg/L (measured concentration, freshwater) for Pimephales promelas (OECD 203)

96h-LC50 = 4.1 mg/L (measured concentration, marine water) for Cyprinodon variegatus (ASTM E-35 1980)

Key value for chemical safety assessment

Fresh water fish

Fresh water fish

Effect concentration:

29 mg/L

Marine water fish

Marine water fish

Effect concentration:

4.1 mg/L

Additional information

Numerous studies are available investigating the acute toxicity of sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) to freshwater and marine fish (see table 1), since SDS is an economically important surfactant and was frequently used as reference substance in toxicity tests. The data set is comprised of several publications with acceptable quality and validity focusing on standard and non-standard species as well as one study report investigating the acute toxicity to the standard species Pimephales promelas (Rawlings 2004). The study was performed according to OECD guideline 203. Fish were exposed in a flow-through system to five test concentrations up to 48 mg/L nominal concentration, corresponding to 40 mg/L measured concentration. Mortality of fish was evaluated every 24 hours throughout the 96h test period. The 96h-LC50 value is determined to be 29 mg/L based on measured concentration. This study is considered to be the most reliable study since it was performed under flow-through conditions and is very well documented as the study was performed for regulatory purposes. Although this effect value is not the lowest observed in the data set it was used for hazard assessment since (i) this study is rated as the most comprehensive and reliable one and (ii) the remaining data set is biased because for most additional species tested several effect values are existing in the literature but always the lowest obtained value per species is listed and no averaging was performed. This was done because the data set is primarily presented to statistically assess the general susceptibility of fish to SDS in comparison to aquatic invertebrates and algae using a conservative approach. To use the effect value from Rawlings (2004) is considered to be acceptable for hazard assessment since classification and labeling as well as PNEC derivation is not based on fish acute toxicity and since this value adequately represents the toxicity (= harmful to fish) of SDS to most freshwater fish species (see table 1).

Based on the profound data set it can be concluded that either marine species are in general more susceptible or SDS is more toxic in the marine environment. The lowest effect value for a standard species was obtained in an acute toxicity test with Cyprinodon variegatus according to the ASTM E-35 (1980) method (Roberts et al. 1982). Fish were exposed to five test concentrations in brackish water (salinity 10 ‰) under static conditions. The 96h-LC50 value is determined to be 4.1 mg/L based on measured concentrations.

Table 1: Acute toxicty of SDS to different freshwater and marine fish species. Publications showing the lowest obtained effect values for a single species are listed.

Species	Exposure time	EC/LC50 [mg/L]	marine/freshwater	Reference
Oncorhynchus mykiss	96h	4.62	fw	Fogels and Sprague 1977
Pimephales promelas Pimephales promelas (fry)	96h 96h	29.0 10.20	fw	Rawlings 2004 Newsome 1982
Lepomis macrochirus	96h	4.50	fw	Bishop and Perry 1981
Danio rerio	96h	7.97	fw	Fogels and Sprague 1977
Rasbora daniconius	96h	6.30	fw	Madhyastha et al. 1979
Heteropneustes fossilis	96h	11.20	fw	Verma et al. 1980
Cichlasoma nigrofasciatum	96h	16.10	fw	Newsome 1982
Cynopoecilus melanotaenia	96h	14.90	fw	Arenzon et al. 2003
Oreochromis mossambicus	96h	19.70	fw	Chen et al. 2001
Oryzias latipes	96h	12.50	fw	Chen et al. 2001
Ctenopharyngodon idella	96h	7.70	fw	Susmi et al. 2010
Poecilia reticulata	96h	13.50	fw	Newsome 1982
Channa punctatus	96h	19.50	fw	Verma et al. 1980
Piaractus brachypomus	96h	11.29	fw	Reátegui-Zirena 2012
Carassius auratus	96h	28.4	fw	Newsome 1982
Jordanella floridae	96h	8.10	fw	Fogels and Sprague 1977
Menida beryllina	96h	9.5	m	Hemmer et al. 2010
Thalassoma pavo	96h	5.23	m	Brunelli et al. 2008
Cyprinodon variegatus	96h	4.10	m	Roberts et al. 1982
Dicentrarchus labrax	96h	7.34	m	Mariani et al. 2006
Menidia menidia	96h	2.80	m	Roberts et al. 1982
Gambusia holbrooki	96h	15.10	m	Nunes et al. 2005
Sparus aurata	96h	6.10	m	Ribelles et al. 1995
Scophthalmus maximus	96h	7.50	m	Rosety-Rodriguez et al. 2002