The toxicity of 14 organotin compounds was investigated by means of two short-term in vitro bioassays, the submitochondrial particle (SMP) test and the Microtox test. The first bioassay makes use of SMPs and is based on the effects of toxicants on reverse electron transport, which is induced by adenosine triphosphate and succinate at the first site level of the respiratory chain. Microtox is a well known test system that uses marine luminescent bacteria and quantifies toxicity by measuring the reduction of luminescence caused by toxic chemicals. Very good agreement was observed between the median effective concentration (EC50) values determined for organotin compounds by means of the two bioassays. Toxicity depended on both the number and kind of organic substituents bound to the tin atom. It followed the order triorganotins Ͼ diorganotins Ӎ tetraorganotins Ͼ monoorganotins. Within each series, butyltin and phenyltin compounds exhibited the highest toxicity. Microtox and SMP EC50 values were successfully correlated with toxicity data for aquatic organisms, demonstrating the usefulness of these bioassays as prescreening or complementary tools for monitoring aquatic toxicity. Moreover, to investigate the suitability of the two assays in providing information on the mechanism of toxic action of organotins, EC50 values were correlated with various physicochemical and structural parameters of the tested compounds. The results obtained showed that these parameters are poor descriptors of organotin toxicity; in particular, the poor correlations found between EC50 values and log K ow could be ascribed to the fact that different modes of action govern the biological activity of mono-, di-, tri-, and tetraorganotin compounds, respectively.