I am working on the reproduction of molluscs and wanted to know whether there is any correlation between base level of heavy metals in the aquatic environment and reproduction of molluscs.
See my paper in Diseases of Asian Aquaculture VII. page 83: “More recently there has been a growing body of literature on the tissue effects of pollutants, particularly heavy metals, on molluscs following on from the work on tributyl tin antifouling and the imposex5 that it causes (Smith, 1981; Tallmon and Hoferkamp, 2009). Work has also focussed on oil pollution and endocrine disruption associated with veterinary and medical drug residues (Marigomez et al., 2006; M “Matthiessen, 2008; Morley, 2008). There has been a parallel growth in papers researching the use of mollusc diseases as a bioindicator of environmental pollution (see review by Au, 2004).”
I should add that molluscs can bind and effectively sequester certain heavy metals without apparent ill effects. See for example, Cadmium in Tiostrea chilensis. Perez-Diaz, N. (2013). Biochemical aspects of cadmium binding to oysters (Thesis, Master of Science). University of Otago. Retrieved from http://hdl.handle.net/10523/4300
Dear Sir,
I am very much thankful for your valuable guidance. Articles you have suggested are interesting and helps me alot.
You may want to explore the phenomenon of imposex, a masculinization of females found when snails, e.g., Ilyanassa obsoleta in North America, are exposed to metals. For example see Curtis, L.A. and Barse 1990, Oecologia. This effect has been seen in many other marine snails, e.g., when exposed to tributyl tin.
Jeff Levinton
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