By falling down a rabbit hole and stepping through a mirror, Alice experiences unusual adventures with a variety of nonsensical characters.

Denison Mine, Sussex, New Brunswick, proposes to discharge a brine, prepared by diluting potash ore in well water, into the Bay of Fundy. To set criteria for the dilution of this brine in seawater (SW), we studied the biological repercussions of different ore concentrations on various developmental stages of the American lobster, Homarus americanus. Acute toxicity bioassays enabled us to calculate the 96 h LC508, which at 20°C ranged from 1 to 2 g ore/L SW in larval stages I, II, and III, and 2.25 to 3 g/L in stage IV and juveniles. At 11°C, LC508 are roughly similar, except in stage IV, 1.5 to 2.25 g/L. Sublethal bioassays showed that the development from hatch to stage IV was only possible if the concentration was under 1.5 g ore/L SW. Comparative experiments using "Instant Ocean" salts showed that the cause of death is not related to an increase in osmolality of the medium. Other experiments using additions of NAC1 or KC1 showed that the principal toxic agent in the brine was the K+. K+ titrations in the blood of lobsters which were exposed to different concentrations of ore for different durations indicate that cause of death could be the toxic effect of increased blood K+ concentrations.

Chelotomy, dactylotomy and dactylostasis were evaluated for effect on survival and growth of small lobsters held for up to 6 months in communal tanks. Juveniles of approximately 8th stage were stocked at 25/m2 in communal tanks containing oyster shell. After 24 weeks best survival (82%) was among dactylotomized lobsters (dactyls of both chelipeds removed), and the worst survival (55%) occurred in untreated controls. Between these extremes were those from which both chelipeds had been removed (chelotomy; 79% survival) and those from which the dactyls were bonded to the propodite with a polymerizing adhesive (dactylostasis; 64% survival). In addition to their greater survival, dactylotomized lobsters also showed the greatest mean length increase over the 24-week period (86% vs. 83% for the controls), and much greater weight gain (565% vs. 335%). In survival, percent weight gain, biomass increase and linear increase the best performance was by lobsters without dactyls.