AbstractCreosote‐contaminated sediment from one station (EH08) in Eagle Harbor, Washington, is among the most toxic sediment yet tested from U.S. estuaries and coastal waters. The total concentration of 13 polynuclear aromatic hydrocarbons in EH08 sediment was 6,461 mg/kg (dry wt.). The concentrations of phenanthrene and fluoranthene in this sediment were more than two orders of magnitude greater than their acutely lethal concentrations. In dilution experiments with uncontaminated sediment from Yaquina Bay, Oregon, the 4‐d LC50 of EH08 sediment to the amphipodRhepoxynius abronius(Barnard) was 666 mg/kg (wet wt.). Sediment from other stations within 150 m of EH08 was not acutely toxic toRhepoxynius, indicating the patchiness of sediment contamination and toxicity in Eagle Har
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