Siriella armata (Crustacea, Mysidacea) is a component of the coastal zooplankton that lives in swarms in the shallow waters of the European neritic zone, from the North Sea to the Mediterranean. Juveniles of this species were examined as standard test organisms for use in marine acute toxicity tests. The effects of reference toxicants, three trace metals (Copper, Cadmium and Zinc), and one surfactant, sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) were studied on S. armata neonates (\24 h) reared in the laboratory. Acute toxicity tests were carried out with filtered sea water on individual chambers (microplate wells for metals or glass vials for SDS) incubated in an isothermal room at 20 degrees C, with 16 h light: 8 h dark photoperiod for 96 h. Each neonate was fed daily with 10-15 nauplii of Artemia salina. Acute (96 h) LC50 values, in increasing order, were 46.9 lg/L for Cu, 99.3 lg/L for Cd, 466.7 lg/L for Zn and 8.5 mg/L for SDS. The LC(10), NOEC and LOEC values were also calculated. Results were compared with Daphnia magna, a freshwater cladoceran widely used as a standard ecotoxicological test organism. Acute (48 h) LC(50) values were 56.2 lg/L for Cu, 571.5 lg/L for Cd, 1.3 mg/L for Zn and 27.3 mg/L for SDS. For all the reference toxicants studied, the marine mysid Siriella armata showed higher sensitivity than the freshwater model organism Daphnia magna, validating the use of Siriella mysids as model organisms in marine acute toxicity tests.