Overview of commercially available bioassays for assessing chemical toxicity in aqueous samples

•We review 60 commercially available bioassays and biomonitors.•Categorized are laboratory-based tests, portable devices and on-line biomonitors.•We review software and statistical packages for tracking the behavior of organisms.•We recommend using a battery of bioassays for organisms at different trophic levels.

Environmental monitoring is fast developing with continual evolution of novel advancements for assessing chemical toxicity. This review provides an overview of the commercially available test kits and technologies for evaluating chemical toxicity using laboratory-based tests, portable devices and on-line biomonitors. The wide application to organisms along with the possible measured endpoints offers a great variety of combinations that can be applied for measurements of acute and chronic toxicity. We also review advanced software for studying toxic effects on the behavior and locomotor activities of the organisms along with statistical packages for evaluating the results. Finally, this review concludes with a recommendation to the user to select a battery of assays and biomonitors for a complete chemical toxicity assessment of an aqueous source considering:•the needs and the facilities of the research institute, industry, or utilities; and,•selecting species from different trophic levels.