Imposex, female sterility and organotin contamination of the prosobranch Nassarius reticulatus from the Portuguese coast

Abstract

Samples of Nassarius reticulatus (L.) were obtained from May to July 2000 on the W Portuguese coast. N. reticulatus imposex (superimposition of male characters onto female prosobranchs) increased with the proximity of harbours. The percentage of imposex-affected females (%I) varied between 0 and 100%. The penis length index (PLI) and the relative penis length index (RPLI) were between 0 and 10.7 mm and 0.0 and 92.1%, respectively. The vas deferens sequence index (VDSI) ranged from 0 to 5. The average oviduct stage (AOS) varied between 0.0 and 1.3. Sterile females (22 specimens) were found at 8 of the 40 sampling stations with frequencies between 5 and 50% of the total females sampled at each site. Sterility occurred only in females highly affected with imposex. Tributyltin (TBT) and triphenyltin (TPT) female body burden varied from < 20 to 1368 and from <10 to 256 ng Sn g -1 dry weight (dry wt), respectively. The TPT residue was, on average, 18% of the TBT residue, and there was a highly significant correlation between TBT and lnTPT (r = 0.88, p < 0.001). Dibutyltin (DBT) and monobutyltin (MBT) female body burden varied from < 34 to 721 and from < 24 to 703 ng Sn g -1 dry wt, respectively. TBT represented the major fraction (34 to 60%) of the total butyltins, followed by DBT (24 to 40%) and MBT (10 to 31%). Highly significant correlations (p < 0.001) were established between the lnTBT female residue and the indices RPLI (r = 0.88), VDSI (5) (r = 0.81) and AOS (r = 0.72), as well as between TBT and percentage female sterility (%STER) (r = 0.61).KEY WORDS: Nassarius reticulatus · Imposex · Portugal · Tributyltin · Triphenyltin · SterilityResale or republication not permitted without written consent of the publisher

Biomonitoring organotin pollution with gastropods and mussels

“…This was conclusively shown for Nucella lapillus (e.g. Bryan et al 1986) and also for Nassarius reticulatus after both field (Stroben et al 1992b, Bryan et al 1993, Huet et al 1995, Barreiro et al 2001, Barroso et al 2002a) and laboratory (Stroben et al 1992a, Bettin et al 1996, Barroso et al 2002b studies. The present work adds to this database with a regional survey, where the relationship between RPLI and TBT (Fig.…”

“…The VDSI displays a similar relation to TBT; however, there is some disagreement with respect to both the expression and the computation of its most advanced stage (VDSI 4 + has been assigned numerical values of 4, 4.5 and 5, respectively in Stroben et al 1992b, Barreiro et al 2001and Barroso et al 2002a). Finally, the AOS has been proposed by Barreiro et al (2001) to improve the ranking of severely polluted sites; however, Barroso et al (2002a) did not observe advantages in this respect. Further investigations are needed to accord the use of these last 2 indices, and also to firmly validate their relationship with female sterility.…”

“…2) is similar to that described in those previous reports. For instance, both Bryan et al (1993) (data for pre-restriction years 1985-87) and Barroso et al (2002a) also found a sharp RPLI increase for TBT up to around 200 ppb Sn DW. At higher concentrations, however, while data in Barroso et al (2002a) tended to a plateau at approximately 85% for TBT up to 1400 ppb Sn DW, the few pre-restriction data in Bryan et al (1993) suggest a positive slope up to 500 ppb Sn DW, which is now confirmed to be significant over an even wider TBT range.…”

“…Imposex coastal monitoring focuses on Nucella lapillus (L.), but Nassarius reticulatus (L.) has been suggested as a suitable alternative for southern OSPAR areas; other than its wider distributional range, the latter gastropod has recognised ad-vantages such as its presence in soft bottoms, its tolerance of brackish waters and its moderate sensitivity to TBT (Stroben et al 1992b, Bryan et al 1993, Huet et al 1995. Indeed, N. reticulatus has recently been used to assess OT pollution at these latitudes at both national (Barroso et al 2002a) and more local (Barreiro et al 2001) scales.…”

Can Nassarius reticulatus be used as a bioindicator for Hg contamination? Results from a longitudinal study of the Portuguese coastline

“…The general biology and population dynamics of this species is provided by Tallmark (1980) and Fretter and Graham (1984) and the species was first proposed as a bioindicator of tributyltin (TBT) pollution by Stroben et al (1992). Subsequently, it has been used in TBT monitoring programmes all over Europe (Oehlmann et al, 1993;Barreiro et al, 2001;Barroso et al, 2000Barroso et al, , 2002. Thus, the question arises as to whether N. reticulatus is a suitable bioindicator for monitoring other contaminants, such as mercury, taking into account its wide ranging distribution and resistance to pollution.…”