Addressing the recovery of feeding rates in post-exposure feeding bioassays: Cyathura carinata as a case study

•We studied recovery of post-exposure feeding rates 48-96 h after cadmium exposure.•The assay is based on the isopod Cyathura carinata.•Post-exposure feeding inhibition is a stable sublethal endpoint.

Post-exposure bioassays are used in environmental assessment as a cost-effective tool, but the effects of organism's recovery after exposure to pollutant has not yet been addressed in detail. The recoveries of post-exposure feeding rates after being exposed to two sublethal concentrations of cadmium during two different exposure periods (48 h and 96 h) were evaluated under laboratory conditions using the estuarine isopod Cyathura carinata. Results showed that feeding depression was a stable endpoint up to 24 h after cadmium exposure, which is useful for ecotoxicological bioassays.