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The use of the dog-whelk, Nucella lapillus, as an indicator of tributyltin (TBT) contamination

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 May 2009

P. E. Gibbs ,
G. W. Bryan ,
P. L. Pascoe  and
G. R. Burt
P. E. Gibbs
Affiliation:
The Laboratory, Marine Biological Association, Citadel Hill, Plymouth PL1 2PB
G. W. Bryan
Affiliation:
The Laboratory, Marine Biological Association, Citadel Hill, Plymouth PL1 2PB
P. L. Pascoe
Affiliation:
The Laboratory, Marine Biological Association, Citadel Hill, Plymouth PL1 2PB
G. R. Burt
Affiliation:
The Laboratory, Marine Biological Association, Citadel Hill, Plymouth PL1 2PB
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The term ‘imposex’ was coined by Smith (1971) to describe the superimposition of male characters onto unparasitized and parasitized females of gonochoristic gastropods. In Nassarius obsoletus (Say) the development of imposex results in the female having one or more of the following characters: (1) a penis with a duct leading to (2) a vas deferens which passes back to the ventral channel of the capsule gland and (3) convolution of the normally straight gonadial oviduct (Smith, 1980). Imposex in the similarly gonochoristic Nucella lapillus (L.) was first noted by Blaber (1970) who found females with penis-like outgrowths in Plymouth Sound populations. Subsequent studies (Bryan et al. 1986; Gibbs & Bryan, 1986) have demonstrated that the incidence and intensity of imposex have since increased markedly in the same populations and that the phenomenon is widespread around south-west England.

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom , Volume 67 , Issue 3 , August 1987 , pp. 507 - 523
Copyright
Copyright © Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom 1987

References

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