Exposure to the higher concentrations of zinc and lead resulted in reductions in oyster growth as compared with control oysters(Fig. 1a, b). Oysters exposed to the highest experimental lead treatment had significantly reduced growth (F3.94, P0.036,Fig. 1a), compared with control oysters. Whereas there was no significant difference in the total growth of oysters exposed to the highest zinc treatment and control oysters, a significant decrease in total growth was observed for the 270 g L−1 zinc treatment compared with the 30 g L−1 treatment (F 5.14, P 0.016 Fig. 1b).
Exposure to the aliphatic hydrocarbons hexadecane and octacosane at 30–810 ng L−1 did not reduce total body mass after 2 months (Fig. 1c, d).