Variations in the Heavy Metal Contents in Tissues of the Sea Cucumber Eupentacta fraudatrix in the Coastal Waters of the
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NE BIOLOGY
Variations in the Heavy Metal Contents in Tissues of the Sea Cucumber Eupentacta fraudatrix in the Coastal Waters of the Sea of Japan: the Influence of Physiological and Anthropogenic Factors L. S. Dolmatovaa, *, E. N. Slinkoa, and L. F. Kolosovaa aIl’ichev
Pacific Oceanological Institute, Far Eastern Branch, Russian Academy of Sciences, Vladivostok, Russia *e-mail: [email protected] Received February 18, 2019; revised October 16, 2019; accepted December 16, 2019
Abstract—Data on temporal (July and September) and interannual variations in the content of several heavy metals are presented for the body wall, gonad, and gut of the sea cucumber Eupentacta fraudatrix from coastal waters of two inlets of Peter the Great Bay (Sea of Japan) with different levels of anthropogenic pollution. The gonads mostly accumulate Zn, Fe, Cu and Cd, while the body wall, presumably, Mn and Pb. Moreover, an increase in the heavy metal content in the gut below a certain threshold is asynchronous with changes in the content of most of them in the body wall and/or gonads, which are caused mainly by physiological factors during the spawning period. However, the influence of environmental pollution is significant during the postspawning period. When the heavy metal content in the gut exceeds a certain limit, synchronous variations in concentrations of heavy metals in the gut and tissues were recorded, which highlight impaired control of the heavy metal distribution in the organism. A correlation between the lead content in the gut and gonad indicates the possibility of determining this metal in the gonads as a bioindicator of environmental pollution. Keywords: zinc, copper, iron, manganese, lead, cadmium, Echinodermata, bioindication DOI: 10.1134/S0001437020040050
INTRODUCTION Sea cucumbers (Echinodermata, Holothuroidea) are widespread in the oceans; however, the greatest species variety and highest stocks are reported for the Asia-Pacific Region. Sea cucumbers constitute a significant part of the macrozoobenthos in terms of biomass of the World Ocean [42], in some cases being representatives of the dominant taxa. Thus, according to various literature sources, their relative biomass in Far Eastern seas may vary from 6.3% in the Sea of Okhotsk [16] up to 12.1% in Peter the Great Bay, Sea of Japan [17]. Some species of sea cucumbers are widely used in the countries of Southeast Asia for food and raw materials for the pharmaceutical industry, which makes them a valuable commercial object [42]. At the same time, the sea cucumber biomass decreased by more than six times from 2003 to 2011 in Peter the Great Bay [17], which was under significant anthropogenic impact [22]. Many species of sea cucumbers inhabit coastal sea waters [17, 35] subjected to intense heavy metal (HM) pollution, which may be accompanied by HM accumulation in the tissues of marine hydrobionts. A significant increase in the HM concentration in the tissues of these animals can be dangerous both for the
species itself and for humans using products from these anima
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