CHANGES IN REPRODUCTIVE MORPHOLOGY AND PHYSIOLOGY OBSERVED IN THE AMPHIPOD CRUSTACEAN, MELITA-NITIDA SMITH, MAINTAINED IN THE LABORATORY ONPOLLUTED ESTUARINE SEDIMENTS
B. Borowsky et al., CHANGES IN REPRODUCTIVE MORPHOLOGY AND PHYSIOLOGY OBSERVED IN THE AMPHIPOD CRUSTACEAN, MELITA-NITIDA SMITH, MAINTAINED IN THE LABORATORY ONPOLLUTED ESTUARINE SEDIMENTS, Journal of experimental marine biology and ecology, 214(1-2), 1997, pp. 85-95
An earlier study showed that the amphipod crustacean Melita nitida Smi
th maintained on sediments dosed with waste crankcase oil developed ph
ysiological and morphological abnormalities. Most notably, mature fema
les developed abnormal setae along the edges of their brood plates. Th
e present study was conducted to determine whether similar abnormaliti
es might be induced in animals maintained on polluted field sediments
containing petroleum by-products among other toxic substances. In the
laboratory, heterosexual pairs were maintained on three sediments take
n from Jamaica Bay (New York) plus one control sediment and one toxic
substratum (Ulva lactuca (L.) thalli). The results mirrored the result
s of the previous study. Under controlled conditions brood production
was reduced on polluted sediments by as much as 57% and a greater prop
ortion of females maintained on polluted sediments developed abnormal
brood plate setae. In contrast, while brood production was lower in fe
males exposed to U. lactuca than on the control sediment, there was no
significant difference between the two groups in the number of female
s that developed abnormal brood plates. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science B.V.