Mussels in Ecotoxicological Studies - Are They Better Indicators for Water Pollution Than Fish?

EU Member states are required to apply the EU Water Framework and its Daughter Directives in order to achieve Good Environmental Status (GES) for all 11 qualitative descriptors by 2015 in all water bodies for a list of priority and specific pollutants. Therefore, environmental indicators and biological-effect techniques have to be carefully selected for the management of chemicals in the aquatic environment and for developing an integrated framework. The most commonly applied biological-effect tools are measures of the biochemical and physiological state of selected organisms, such as mussels or fish. The present article provides basic information on the EU Water Directive, the essence of biomarkers, and outlines why mussels may be the better choice of indicators in toxicological research and monitoring programs in order to study the impact of contaminants in water ecosystems.