Charles Gieseker

Caging Atlantic Menhaden: Collection, Husbandry, and in situ Bioassays with a Sensitive Estuarine Species

Cages as tools for in situ bioassays have a proven track record in monitoring the effects of effluent and sediment toxicity. Application to biomonitoring, however, has received comparably little attention. With the increasing threat of harmful algal blooms to both humans and aquatic organisms, their use as sentinels for early warning and for the examination of organism response in situ is evident. During efforts to monitor and describe the response of juvenile menhaden (Brevoortia tyrannus) to the reportedly toxic dinoflagellates of the genus Pfiesteria, we devised a simple, inexpensive...