bioconcentratemetalsintotheirtissues(Li etal.,2009). Duetotheir
wide geographicaldistribution,theirhighabundanceinthebenthic
environmentandsedentarynature(Blackmore,1999),molluskscan
be usedasbiomonitorsindicatingthebioavailabilityofcontami-
nantsandthedegreeofpollution(Peerzada andKozlik,1992;
Schuhmacher,1996). Theassessmentoftoxicity ofsediments
generallyrequiresapplicationofatleastasinglesuitablebiological
test togetherwithchemicalanalysis(Mazurova´ et al.,2008).