Accumulation of silver from the diet in two marine benthic predators: The snow crab (Chionoecetes opilio) and American plaice (Hippoglossoides platessoides)

• Published in: Environmental toxicology and chemistry 2000-03, Vol.19 (3), p.631-637
• Main Authors: Rouleau, Claude, Gobeil, Charles, Tjälve, Hans
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Animal, plant and microbial ecology; Applied ecology; Biological and medical sciences; Canada, Quebec, St. Lawrence Estuary; Canada, St. Lawrence Estuary; Chionoecetes opilio; Crab; Ecotoxicology, biological effects of pollution; Fish; Food; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Hippoglossoides platessoides; Hypoglossoides platessoides; Marine; Marine and brackish environment; Marine benthos; Silver
• ISSN: 0730-7268; 1552-8618
• DOI: 10.1002/etc.5620190315

The kinetics and fine‐scale tissue distribution of a single dose of 110mAg ingested with food were determined in snow crab and American plaice through the techniques of in vivo gamma counting and whole‐body autoradiography. Metal that was retained after the first 3 d was distributed in all the soft tissues of snow crab, whereas it concentrated in gut, liver, and gallbladder of the American plaice. In snow crab, the biological half‐life of retained Ag, which represented 67–100% of the ingested dose, was greater than 1000 d. In contrast, in American plaice the retained fraction represented only 4–16% of the ingested dose and the biological half‐life ranged from 13 to 102 d. Modeling the trophic accumulation of Ag for snow crab and American plaice living in the St. Lawrence Estuary, assuming realistic values for food ingestion rates and Ag concentration in benthic organisms of lower trophic levels, reveals that continuous feeding on Ag‐contaminated prey would result in much higher metal levels in the snow crab than in the American plaice. Measurement of Ag concentrations in snow crab and American plaice from the St. Lawrence Estuary, an environment receiving significant inputs of anthropogenic Ag, confirmed this prediction. The similarity between laboratory‐based predictions and field data strongly suggests that predation is the major transfer route of Ag towards these marine benthic predators.