Behavioral and infordisruptive responses of Cyclope neritea and Nassarius mutabilis exposed to Polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs)

Abstract The objective of this work was to investigate the behavioural characteristics of C. neritea and N. mutabilis when exposed to different levels of PBDEs in an attempt to foresee the possible impacts for an aquatic ecosystem. The status of the snails’ activities was recorded by using Behavioral State Score (BSS). Significant different was found in the snail’s behavior in high toxicant concentration than in low toxicant concentration with p-value smaller than 0.01. The new findings reveal that PBDEs can induce intersex behaviour in snails. Further studies should be focused on exposure of snails to various kinds of PEDE derivatives to study the extent of behavioural change under the influence of PBDE derivatives.