Book excerpt: Physiological Responses of Marine Biota to Pollutants contains the proceedings of a symposium entitled ""Pollution and Physiology of Marine Organisms"" held in Connecticut in November 1975. It explores the influence of pesticides, polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), petroleum products, and heavy metals on the physiology of marine species, such as fish, crabs, shrimps, lobsters, and mussels. More specifically, it looks at the functional mechanisms underlying the response of marine organisms to pollutants that act either alone or in combination with other pollutants and/or ""normal"" environmental factors. Comprised of five parts encompassing 27 chapters, this volume begins with an overview of pesticides and PCBs and their effects on marine organisms, including those of malathion on the development of crabs and of PCBs on feral fish. It proceeds with a discussion of heavy metals, such as methylmercury, selenium, cadmium and cadmium chloride, and chromium; and an explanation of how petroleum hydrocarbons affect estuarine fish embryos, pink salmon fry, marine fish, Mytilus californianus, Mya arenaria, Mytilus edulis, and plankton. The reader is also introduced to the synergistic effects of exposure to temperature and chlorine on young-of-the-year estuarine fishes, the effects of DDT and mirex singly and in concert on Adinia xenica, the role of temperature in the physiology of bivalves, physiological responses of crustacean larvae to temperature, use of the heterotrophic potential assay as an indicator of environmental quality, and how the mud crab (Rhithropanopeus harrisii) is affected by juvenile hormone mimics. Marine scientists, ecologists, and students will find this book extremely useful.