Abstract

Toxicity of sediment from Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC) on H.azteca (14-days acute sediment toxicity test) was tested in this study. The amphipods H. azteca test showed that the 9 sediment samples from 5 cunals of HCMC were toxic with mortality varying from 87.5% to 100%. The reference sediment Tri An showing no acute toxicity can be considered as being a non contaminated site. The order in mean survival in these canal samples was the following: TriAn (76.3%) > NL-TN (10%) > KD-KT (7.5%) > TL-BC (6.3%) > TH-LG (5%) > TH-BN (0%). All sediments of HCMC were classified as very toxic (effects greater than 50% difference from the control - according to Burton et al., 1996). The H.azteca sediment test is interesting for the assessment and classification of the sediment contamination in the HCM canals with the aim to assess and manage sediment quality, including dredged material in HCMC.