Imposex in Stramonita haemastoma: a preliminary comparison between waterborne and dietborne exposure

Abstract

400 adult individuals of the Stramonita haemastoma were collected from a pristine beach in Ceara State, Brazil. These organisms were transplanted into a marina with intense shipping activities and were fed weekly with oysters obtained from the same beach from which they were collected, being exposed only to the bioavailable organotins in the environment, without accounting for diet (waterborne exposure). 30 individuals were analyzed every 2 weeks after transplantation to investigate the development of imposex. After 15 days, 90% of the females had developed imposex (VDSI I-III, RPLI 3.22), with 100% of the females developing imposex after 30 days; at the end of the experiment, the VDSI levels ranged between I-V. These results were compared with those of a previously published study performed simultaneously in which gastropods obtained in same area were fed in the laboratory with oysters from the same marina in which the gastropods were transplanted (dietborne exposure). Despite the higher levels obtained through exposure via water at the end of 90 days, both exposure routes induced imposex in 100% of the females of the S. haemastoma. However, aqueous exposure induced higher levels, possibly due to the constant contact between the organisms and contaminants.

Evaluation of the use of Olivella minuta (Gastropoda, Olividae) and Hastula cinerea (Gastropoda, Terebridae) as TBT sentinels for sandy coastal habitats

“…The imposex incidence in gastropods is TBT dependent (Matthiessen and Gibbs 1998) but also related to environmental concentrations (Gibbs 2009), exposure pathway (Lima and Castro 2006;Rossato et al 2014), exposure time (Fernandez et al 2007), and species sensibility (Castro et al 2012c). Thus, different species can develop different imposex stages, even in similar exposure conditions (Bech 1999).…”

Inventory of mollusks from the estuary of the Paraíba River in northeastern Brazil

“…The calliostomatid lives usually on muddy, sandy bottoms at depths of approximately 25 m, while the muricid lives under rocks commonly feeding on barnacles and oysters (Rios 2009). Both species are reported herein for an estuarine area with many oyster beds, which is the preferred food of muricid gastropods (D'assaro 1966, Ponder 1998, Herbert et al 2007, Rossato et al 2014, Lima et al 2016a). On the other hand, all species found are commonly distributed in estuarine ecosystems of Brazil, such as the bivalves Anomalocardia brasiliana and Iphigenia brasiliana, which have great economic importance to fishing communities.…”