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The well-known correlation between the hydrophobicity of narcotic chemicals and the exposure concentration needed to produce an effect indicates that a lipid phase in the aquatic organism is the most likely target. The molar concentration in aquatic organisms at death is found to be approximately constant for different narcotic chemicals, varying from 2 to 8 mmol/kg organism. Because the proportion of lipid is known, the lethalin vivo membrane burden can be calculated to be 40 to 160 mmol/kg lipid.

The exact mechanism underlying narcosis is still unknown. However, disturbance by narcotic chemicals in model membrane systems has been investigated, attention having been paid to disturbance of phospholipids and proteins, and of the interaction between the two groups. Model membrane burdens of different chemicals have been shown to be approximately constant for a particular effect. Different effects are …