Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-dzt6s Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-01-03T12:35:27.755Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Size-related variation in the sensitivity of the mussel, Mytilus edulis, to copper

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 October 2019

K. Hoare  and
J. Davenport
K. Hoare
Affiliation:
School of Ocean Sciences, University of Wales Bangor, Menai Bridge, Gwynedd, LL57 5EY
J. Davenport
Affiliation:
School of Ocean Sciences, University of Wales Bangor, Menai Bridge, Gwynedd, LL57 5EY
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Juvenile mussels (Mytilus edulis, Mollusca: Bivalvia) were subjected to a simple assay to investigate the pattern and timing of the shift from high copper resistance of the veliger larva to the lower resistance of the adult. The level of resistance found in veligers persists in mussels of 1 mm shell length (400 ppb Cu; LT50, 12.5 d) while the lower adult level of resistance is reached at a shell length of 5 mm (400 ppb Cu; LT50 2.8–5.3 d). Resistance declines gradually, being significantly correlated with shell length (P<0.02) such that size differences explain 88% of the variation in copper resistance among juvenile mussels.

Type
Short Communications
Information
Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom , Volume 74 , Issue 4 , November 1994 , pp. 971 - 973
Copyright
Copyright © Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom 1994

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Abel, P.D., 1976. Effects of some pollutants on the filtration rate of Mytilus . Marine Pollution Bulletin, 7, 228–231.Google Scholar
Beaumont, A.R., Tserpes, G. & Budd, M.D., 1987. Some effects of copper on the veliger larvae of the mussel Mytilus edulis and the scallop Pecten maximus (Mollusca, Bivalvia). Marine Environ-mental Research, 21, 299–309.Google Scholar
Davenport, J., 1977. A study of the effects of copper applied continuously and discontinuously to specimens of Mytilus edulis (L.) exposed to steady and fluctuating salinity levels, journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom, 57, 63–74.Google Scholar
Davenport, J. & Redpath, K.J., 1984. Copper and the mussel Mytilus edulis L. In Toxins, drugs and pollutants in marine animals (ed. Bolis, L. et al.), pp. 176–189. Berlin: Springer-Verlag.Google Scholar
Ringwood, A.H., 1993. Age-specific differences in cadmium sensitivity and bioaccumulation in bivalve molluscs. Marine Environmental Research, 35, 35–39.Google Scholar
Scott, D.M. & Major, C.W., 1972. The effect of copper (II) on survival, respiration, and heart rate in the common blue mussel, Mytilus edulis. Biological Bulletin. Marine Biological Laboratory, Woods Hole, 143, 679–688.Google Scholar
Sheffrin, N.M.H., 1982. The effect of impaired water quality on the behaviour of Mytilus edulis plantigrades. PhD thesis, University of Sheffield.Google Scholar