Effect of some organophosphorus pesticides on oxygen consumption of shrimp, Litopenaeus vannamei

Oxygen consumption was measured in adult specimens of Litopenaeus vannamei shrimps from a coastal lagoon of Sinaloa, Mexico, during exposure to sublethal concentrations of the organophosphorus pesticides, Diazinon, Folidol, and Gusathion. Each individual was used as a control of itself, to avoid differences between treatments being masked by individual variability. In all three treatments with pesticides, respiration rate, measured by a polarographic electrode, was significantly lower than in controls. This may, at least partly, explain the decrease in shrimp production observed in recent years in the coastal lagoons of Sinaloa. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science (USA).