COMPARISON OF CONTAMINANT ACCUMULATION IN 3 SPECIES OF MARINE-INVERTEBRATES WITH DIFFERENT FEEDING-HABITS

In order to assess the importance of the mode of feeding for the bioac cumulation of contaminants from sediments, three marine benthic invert ebrates, with different feeding habits, were exposed to contaminated s ediments in outdoor mesocosms. Residue analyses were carried out for s everal polychlorinated biphenyls and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons after exposure periods of 60 to 140 days. It was shown that sediment i ngestion is a major uptake route for the sediment-feeding lugworm, Are nicola marina, and for the facultative deposit-feeding baltic tellin, Macoma balthica. Residues in the filter-feeding mussel, Mytilus edulis , appeared to be independent of contaminant concentrations in the sedi ment. The difference between deposit and filter-feeding bivalves was c onfirmed in experiments involving the baltic tellin, with differences in the food availability in the overlying water. A simple linear regre ssion model was used to describe contaminant concentrations in sedimen t-feeding invertebrates as a function of concentrations in sediment. A correction for the accumulation from water was made by subtracting th e concentrations in filter feeders. It was concluded that chemical equ ilibrium partitioning alone is not sufficient for the assessment of th e risks of contaminated sediments to sediment-feeding invertebrates, b ut that feeding habits should also be considered.