The Distribution of the Major and Some Minor Elements in Marine Animals I. Echinoderms and Coelenterates

Abstract

Many metallic elements are concentrated by marine animals to levels far in excess of their concentrations in sea water itself. This concentration extends not only to those elements which are known to have biochemical functions, but also to others which have no established biological role (e.g. cadmium and lead). Little is known about the mechanisms by which trace elements are concentrated, or about the manner in which they are held in the tissues. As a preliminary to the investigation of concentration mechanisms, reliable data are required concerning the distribution of the elements in a variety of marine animals.

Sr/Ca and Ba/Ca variations in environmental and biological sources: A survey of marine and terrestrial systems

“…2. Terrestrial biological data are from Shacklette (1980), Elias et al (1982), Price et al (1985), Sealy and Sillen (1988), Gilbert et al (1994), Burton et al (1999), Blum et al (2000), Poszwa et al (2000), Sponheimer et al (2005), Drouet and Herbauts (2008) and marine biological data are from Mauchline and Templeton (1966) Szabo (1967), Martin (1970), Riley and Segar (1970), Segar et al (1971), Martin and Knauer (1973), Patterson and Settle (1977), Sealy and Sillen (1988), Gilbert et al (1994), Zumholz et al (2006), Cunha et al (2008), and Love et al (2009); more information on references is given in Electronic Annex EA-1. spanned three and three and a half orders of magnitude, respectively.…”

Metal concentrations in certain coastal organisms from Beirut

“…equina seem to be high in relation to concentrations reported to occur in coelenterates from the Irish Sea (Riley & Segar, 1970) and the Solent region of the United Kingdom (Leatherland and Burton, 1974) . Cadmium in Actinia equina however, is somewhat similar to levels found in both of those studies .…”

Sublethal effects of cadmium on arm regeneration in the burrowing brittlestar, Microphiopholis gracillima

“…Wright (1980) noted a similar occurrence in the amphipod Gammarus pulex and found that the carapace accumulation reached a plateau after 60 h of exposure, indicating a limit in the adsorptive capacity of the exoskeleton. Riley and Segar (1970) also found the less-calcified portions of the sea star Asterias rubens and the echinoid Echinus esculentus to be richer in trace metals than more calcified tissues.…”

“…Cadmium is one of the most toxic heavy metals and has no established biological role (Riley andSegar 1970, Wright 1977a). Because only 5% of anthropogenic cadmium is recycled (Nriagu 1980), there are chronic problems with cadmium in sedimentary environments of industrialized countries (Furness et al 1990).…”

“…Most studies involve anecdotal records of heavy metal body burdens in particular species (e.g. Riley and Segar 1970, Leatherland and Burton 1974, Stenner and Nickless 1975, acute toxicity studies (Eisler 1971, Ahsanullah 1976 or studies of cadmium uptake (den Besten et al 1990(den Besten et al , 1991. However, little is known of the chronic effects of heavy metals on the physiology and ecology of echinoderms.…”