Hostname: page-component-cc8bf7c57-j4qg9 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-11T22:53:55.589Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

The American Oyster Drill, Urosalpinx Cinerea (Gastropoda): Evidence Of Decline in an Imposex-Affected Population (R. Blackwater, Essex)

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 May 2009

P. E. Gibbs
Affiliation:
Plymouth Marine Laboratory, Citadel Hill, Plymouth, Devon, PL 2PB
B. E. Spencer
Affiliation:
Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, Fisheries Laboratory, Benarth Road, Conwy, Gwynedd, LL 8UB
P. L. Pascoe
Affiliation:
Plymouth Marine Laboratory, Citadel Hill, Plymouth, Devon, PL 2PB

Extract

The American oyster drill, Urosalpinx cinerea introduced to UK waters around the turn of the century, flourished in the Essex oyster grounds until the 1970s. Recent observations, 1987–1990, made in Goldhanger Creek, River Blackwater, indicate that the population level has been reduced to the point of scarcity and that those individuals remaining are old. All females examined exhibited imposex. In most, this masculinizing syndrome was developed to an advanced state that involved oviducal malformation; copulation and egg capsule formation are thought to have been inhibited and hence such affected females were sterile. Other, probably very old, females appeared infertile because of senility. No viable spawn was observed during the four summers of 1987 – 1990.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom 1991

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

REFERENCES

Bailey, S.K. & Davies, I.M. 1989. The effects of tributyltin on dogwhelks (Nucella lapillus) from Scottish coastal waters. Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom, 69, 335354.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Baker, B.B. 1951. Interesting shells from the Delmarva Peninsula. Nautilus, 64, 7377.Google Scholar
Bryan, G.W.Gibbs, P.E.Hummerstone, L.G. & Burt, G.R. 1986. The decline of the gastropod Nucella lapillus around south-west England: evidence for the effect of tributyltin from antifouling paints. Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom, 66, 611640.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bryan, G.W.Gibbs, P.E.Huggett, R.J.Curtis, L.A.Bailey, D.S. & Dauer, D.M. 1989. Effects of tributyltin pollution on the mud snail, llyanassa obsoleta from the York River and Sarah Creek, Chesapeake Bay. Marine Pollution Bulletin, 20, 458462.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Carriker, M.R. 1955. Critical review of biology and control of oyster drills Urosalpinx and Eupleura. Special Scientific Report - Fisheries. Fish and Wildlife Service, Washington, DC, 148, 1150.Google Scholar
Carriker, M.R. & van Zandt, D. 1972. Predatory behaviour of a shell-boring muricid gastropod. In Behaviour of Marine Animals: Current Perspectives in Research. I.Invertebrates (ed. Winn, H.E. and Olla, B.L.), pp. 157244. New York: Plenum Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cole, H.A. 1941. Sex ratio in Urosalpinx cinerea the American oyster drill. Nature, London, 147, 116117.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cole, H. A. 1942. The American whelk tingle, Urosalpinx cinerea (Say), on British oyster beds. journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom, 25, 477508.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cole, H.A. 1951. The British oyster industry and its problems. Rapport et Procès-verbaux des Réunions. Conseil Permanent International pour l'Exploration de la Mer, 128 (2), 7–17.Google Scholar
Curtis, L.A. & Barse, A.M. 1990. Sexual anomalies in the estuarine snail llyanassa obsoleta: imposex in females and associated phenomena in males. Oecologia, 84, 371375.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Franklin, A. & Pickett, G.D. 1974. Recent research on introduced pests in England and Wales. Ices Committee Meeting Papers and Reports CM 1974/K:15, 6 pp.Google Scholar
Franklin, A. & Pickett, G.D. 1975. The distribution of the introduced gastropods Urosalpinx cinerea and Crepidula fornicata in England and Wales. Conchologists' Newsletter, 55, 462463.Google Scholar
Fretter, V. 1941. The genital ducts of some British Stenoglossan Prosobranchs. Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom, 25, 173211.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gibbs, P.E. & Bryan, G.W. 1986. Reproductive failure in populations of the dog-whelk, Nucella lapillus caused by imposex induced by tributyltin from antifouling paints. Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom, 66, 767777.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gibbs, P.E.Bryan, G.W.Pascoe, P.L. & Burt, G.R. 1987. The use of the dog-whelk, Nucella lapillus as an indicator of tributyltin (TBT) contamination. Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom, 67, 507523.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gibbs, P.E.Bryan, G.W.Pascoe, P.L. & Burt, G.R. 1990. Reproductive abnormalities in female Ocenebra erinacea (Gastropoda) resulting from tributyltin-induced imposex. Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom, 70, 639656.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gibbs, P.E.Pascoe, P.L. & Burt, G.R. 1988. Sex change in the female dog-whelk, Nucella lapillus induced by tributyltin from antifouling paints. Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom, 68, 715731.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gibbs, P.E.Pascoe, P.L. & Bryan, G.W. 1991. Tributyltin-induced imposex in stenoglossan gastropods: pathological effects on the female reproductive system. Comparative Biochemistry and Physiology, 100C, 231235.Google Scholar
Griffith, G.W. & Castagna, M. 1962. Sexual dimorphism in oyster drills of Chincoteague Bay, Maryland-Virginia. Chesapeake Science, 3, 215217.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hall, J.G. & Feng, S.Y. 1976. Genital variation among Connecticut populations of the oyster drill, Urosalpinx cinerea Say (Prosobranchia: Muricidae). The Veliger, 18, 318321.Google Scholar
Hancock, D. A. 1954. The destruction of oyster spat by Urosalpinx cinerea (Say) on Essex oyster beds. Journal du Conseil International pour l'Exploration de la Mer, 20, 186196.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hancock, D.A. 1956. The structure of the capsule and the hatching process in Urosalpinx cinerea (Say). Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London, 127, 565571.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hancock, D.A. 1959. The biology and control of the American whelk tingle Urosalpinx cinerea (Say) on English oyster beds. Fishery Investigations. Series II. MAFF, London, 22 (10), 1–66.Google Scholar
Hancock, D.A. 1974. Oyster pests and their control. Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, Laboratory Leaflet (New Series), no. 19, 29 pp.Google Scholar
HargisW.J., Jr W.J., Jr 1957. A rapid live-sexing technique for Urosalpinx cinerea and Eupleura caudata with notes on previous methods. Limnology and Oceanography, 2, 4142.Google Scholar
Humphrey, E.C. 1990. Feeding Studies of the Muricid Gastropod Ocenebra erinacea (Linnaeus, 1758), with Ultrastructural and Histochemical Investigations of the ABO. Unpublished PhD thesis, University of Southampton.Google Scholar
Manzi, J.J. 1970. Combined effects of salinity and temperature on the feeding, reproductive and survival rates of Eupleura caudata (Say) and Urosalpinx cinerea (Say) (Prosobranchia: Muricidae). Biological Bulletin. Marine Biological Laboratory, Woods Hole, 138, 3546.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Manzi, J.J.Calabrese, A. & Rawlins, D.M. 1971. A note on gametogenesis in the oyster drills, Urosalpinx cinerea (Say) and Eupleura caudata (Say). The Veliger, 14, 271273.Google Scholar
Orton, J.H. 1930. On the oyster drills in the Essex estuaries. Essex Naturalist, 22, 298306.Google Scholar
Orton, J.H. & Amirthalingham, C. 1929. The oyster drills on English oyster-beds. Nature, London, 124, 298299.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Orton, J.H. & Winckworth, R. 1928. The occurrence of the American oyster pest Urosalpinx cinerea (Say) on English oyster beds. Nature, London, 122, 241.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Smith, B.S. 1980. The estuarine mud snail, Nassarius obsoletus: abnormalities in the reproductive system. Journal of Molluscan Studies, 46, 247256.Google Scholar
Spence, S.K.Hawkins, S.J. & Santos, R.S. 1990. The mollusc Thais haemastoma an exhibitor of ‘imposex’ and potential biological indicator of tributyltin pollution. Marine Ecology, 11, 147156.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Thain, J.E. & Waldock, M.J. 1986. The impact of tributyl tin (TBT) antifouling paints on molluscan fisheries. Water Science and Technology, 18, 193202.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Waldock, M.J.Thain, J.E. & Waite, M.E. 1987. The distribution and potential toxic effects of TBT in UK estuaries during 1986. Applied Organometallic Chemistry, 1, 287301.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Zachary, A. & Haven, D.S. 1973. Survival and activity of the oyster drill Urosalpinx cinerea under conditions of fluctuating salinity. Marine Biology, 22, 4552.CrossRefGoogle Scholar