Abstract
Mussels have been widely used as bioindicators of coastal contamination, and recent reports have demonstrated that metals are accumulated from both the dissolved phase and from ingested food. In the winter and spring of 1995, we examined the influence of the chemical composition of food (protein content, trace element concentrations and ratios in the diatom Thalassiosira pseudomana) on the assimilation of six trace elements (Ag, Am, Cd, Co, Se and Zn) in the mussel Mytilus edulis (L.). Differences of up to 38% in diatom protein content had no major influence on the assimilation of any trace element or carbon. Protein assimilation in M. edulis examined with a 35S radiotracer was also independent of protein content in the diatoms. Similarly, Se assimilation in mussels was not affected by the different Se concentrations in the diatoms. Cd assimilation increased with increasing Cd concentration, presumably due to higher desorption of Cd under acidic conditions typical of the mussel gut. Zn assimilation was inversely related to Zn concentration in the food particles, implying a partial regulation of this metal in the mussels. There was no evidence of any interaction of Cd and Zn in their assimilation by the mussels. These results suggest that mussels are highly responsive, in an element-specific way, to some components of ingested food (e.g., metal concentration), but other food components (such as the biochemical composition of the algae) have little effect on assimilation.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Absil MCP, Kroon JJ, Woltherbeek HT (1994) Availability of copper from phytoplankton and water for the bivalve Macoma balthica. II. Uptake and elimination from 64Cu-labeled diatom and water. Mar Biol 118:129–135
Amiard-Triquet CB, Berthet B, Metyer C, Amiard J-C (1986) Contribution to the ecotoxicological study of cadmium, lead, copper and zinc in the mussel, Mytilus edulis. II. Experimental study. Mar Biol 92:7–13
Asmus H, Asmus RM (1993) Phytoplankton-mussel bed interactions in intertidal ecosystems. In: Dame RF (ed) Bivalve filter feeders in estuarine and coastal ecosystem processes. Springer-Verlag, Berlin, pp 57–84
Bayne BL (1993) Feeding physiology of bivalves: time-dependence and compensation for changes in food availability. In: Dame RF (ed) Bivalve filter feeders in estuarine and coastal ecosystem processes. Springer-Verlag, Berlin, pp 1–24
Bayne BL, Hawkins AJS, Navarro E (1987) Feeding and digestion by the mussel Mytilus edulis L. (Bivalvia, Mollusca) in mixtures of silt and algal cells at low concentrations. J exp mar Biol Ecol 111:1–22
Bayne BL, Hawkins AJS, Navarro E, Iglesias IP (1989) Effects of seston concentration on feeding, digestion and growth in the mussel Mytilus edulis. Mar Ecol Prog Ser 55:47–54
Bebianno MJ, Langston WJ (1991) Metallothionein induction in Mytilus edulis exposed to cadmium. Mar Biol 108:91–96
Bjerregaard P, Topçuo glu S, Fisher NS, Fowler SW (1985) Biokinetics of americium and plutonium in the mussel Mytilus edulis. Mar Ecol Prog Ser 21:99–111
Bryan GW (1984) Pollution due to heavy metals and their compounds. In: Kinne O (ed) Marine ecology. Vol. 5. Part 3. John Wiley & Sons, New York, pp 1289–1431
Cutshall N (1974) Turnover of zinc-65 in oysters. Hlth Phys 26:327–331
Decho AW, Luoma SN (1991) Time-courses in the retention of food materials in the bivalves Macoma balthica and Potamocorbula amurensis: significance to the absorption of carbon and chromium. Mar Ecol Prog Ser 78:303–314
Decho AW, Luoma SN (1994) Humic and fulvic acid: sink or source in the bioavailability of metals to the marine bivalves Potamocorbula amurensis and Macoma balthica. Mar Ecol Prog Ser 108:133–145
Fischer H (1988) Mytilus edulis as a quantitative indicator of dissolved cadmium. Final study and synthesis. Mar Ecol Prog Ser 48:163–174
Fisher NS (1986) On the reactivity of metals for marine phytoplankton. Limnol Oceanogr 31:443–449
Fisher NS, Bjerregaard P, Fowler SW (1983a) Interactions of marine plankton with transuranic elements. 1. Biokinetics of neptunium, plutonium, americium, and californium in phytoplankton. Limnol Oceanogr 28:432–447
Fisher NS, Burns KS, Cherry RD, Heyraud M (1983b) Accumulation and cellular distribution of 241Am, 210Po, and 210Pb in two marine algae. Mar Ecol Prog Ser 11:233–237
Fisher NS, Reinfelder JR (1991) Assimilation of selenium in the marine copepod Acartia tonsa studied with a radiotracer ratio method. Mar Ecol Prog Ser 70:157–164
Fisher NS, Wente M (1993) The release of trace elements by dying marine phytoplankton. Deep-Sea Res 40:671–694
Flynn KJ, Davidson K, Lefeley JW (1993) Carbon-nitrogen relations during batch growth of Nannochloropsis oculata (Eustigmatophyceae) under alternating light and dark. J appl Phycol 5: 465–475
Guillard RRL, Ryther JH (1962) Studies of marine planktonic diatoms 1. Cyclotella nana Hustedt, and Detonula confervacea (Cleve) Gran. Can J Microbiol 8:229–239
Hutchins DA, Wang W-X, Fisher NS (1995) Copepod grazing and the biogeochemical fate of phytoplankton iron. Limnol Oceanogr 40:989–994
Jackim E, Morrison G, Steele R (1977) Effects of environmental factors on radiocadmium uptake by four species of marine bivalves. Mar Biol 40:303–308
Kreeger DA (1993) Seasonal patterns in utilization of dietary protein by the mussel Mytilus trossulus. Mar Ecol Prog Ser 95:215–232
Langdon CJ, Newell RIE (1990) Utilization of detritus and bacteria as food sources by two bivalve suspension-feeders, the oyster Crassostrea virginica and the mussel Geukensia demissa. Mar Ecol Prog Ser 58:299–310
Levasseur M, Thompson PA, Harrison PJ (1993) Physiological acclimation of marine phytoplankton to different nitrogen sources. J Phycol 29:587–595
Luoma SN, Johns C, Fisher NS, Steinberg NA, Oremland RS, Reinfelder JR (1992) Determination of selenium bioavailability to a benthic bivalve from particulate and solute pathways. Envir Sci Technol 26:485–491
Navarro E, Iglesias JIP (1993) Infaunal filter-feeding bivalves and the physiological response to short-term fluctuations in food availability and composition. In: Dame RF (ed) Bivalve filter feeders in estuarine and coastal ecosystem processes. Springer-Verlag, Berlin, pp 25–56
Owen G (1974) Feeding and digestion in the Bivalvia. Adv comp Physiol Biochem 5:1–35
Phillips DJH, Rainbow PS (1988) Barnacles and mussels as biomonitors of trace elements: a comparative study. Mar Ecol Prog Ser 49:83–93
Reinfelder JR, Fisher NS (1991) The assimilation of elements ingested by marine copepods. Science, NY, 251:794–796
Roesijadi G (1994) Behavior of metallothionein-bound metals in a natural population of an estuarine mollusc. Mar envirl Res 38:147–168
Shumway SE, Cucci TL, Newell RC, Yentsch CM (1985) Particle selection, ingestion and absorption in filter-feeding bivalves. J exp mar Biol Ecol 91:77–92
Smith PK, Krohn RI, Hermanson GT, Mallia AK, Gartner FH, Provenzano MD, Fujimoto EK, Goeke NM, Olson BJ, Klenk DC (1985) Measurements of proteins using bicinchoninic acid. Analyt Biochem 150:76–85
Uriarte I, Farias A, Hawkins AJS, Bayne BL (1993) Cell characteristics and biochemical composition of Dunaliella primolecta Butcher conditioned at different concentrations of dissolved nitrogen. J appl Phycol 5:447–453
Wang W-X, Fisher NS (1996) Assimilation of trace elements and carbon by the mussel, Mytilus edulis: effects of food composition. Limnol Oceanogr 41:197–207
Wang W-X, Fisher NS, Luoma SN (1995) Assimilation of trace elements ingested by the mussel, Mytilus edulis: effects of algal food abundance. Mar Ecol Prog Ser 129:165–176
Wang W-X, Fisher NS, Luoma SN (1996) Kinetic determination of trace element bioaccumulation in the mussel, Mytilus edulis. Mar Ecol Prog Ser (in press)
Widdows J, Hawkins AJS (1989) Partitioning of rate of heat dissipation by Mytilus edulis into maintenance, feeding, and growth components. Physiol Zool 62:764–784
Wikfors GH (1986) Altering growth and gross chemical composition of two microalgal molluscan food species by varying nitrate and phosphate. Aquaculture, Amsterdam 59:1–14
Winter JE (1969) On the influence of food concentration and other factors on filtration rates and food utilization in the mussels Arctica islandica and Modiolus modiolus. Mar Biol 4:87–135
Wrench JJ (1978) Selenium metabolism in the marine phytoplankters Tetraselmis tetrathele and Dunaliella minuta. Mar Biol 49:231–236
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Additional information
Communicated by J. P. Grassle, New Brunswick
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Wen-Xiong, W., Fisher, N.S. Assimilation of trace elements by the mussel Mytilus edulis: effects of diatom chemical composition. Marine Biology 125, 715–724 (1996). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00349254
Received:
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00349254