Interspecific variation in heavy metal body concentrations in Hong Kong marine invertebrates

Accumulated body concentrations of cadmium, copper and zinc were investigat ed in 19 species of intertidal invertebrates (the barnacles Tetraclita squa mosa, Capitulum mitella, Balanus amphitrite, Megabalanus volcano, the bival ves Saccostrea cucullata, Septifer virgatus and Brachidontes atratus, the c hiton Acanthopleura japonica and the gastropods Cellana grata, Cellana tore uma, Patelloida saccharina, Patelloida pygmaca, Siphonaria japonica, Tegula argyrostoma, Lunella coronata, Monodonta labio, Nerita albicilla, Thais cl avigera and Thais luteostoma) collected from a relatively unpolluted area i n Hong Kong, i.e. two shores within the Cape d'Aguilar Marine Reserve. In g eneral body metal concentrations could be explained by the accumulation str ategy of the analysed organism and by physiological requirements for the es sential metals, i.e. copper and zinc. Zinc concentrations were, therefore, greatest in the barnacles and the oyster S. cucullata. Copper concentration s were greatest in those gastropods containing the respiratory pigment haem ocyanin and in S. cucullata. One species collected from the sheltered shore , i.e. T. luteostoma, had much higher copper body concentrations compared w ith exposed shore conspecifics and this may be attributed to a diet that wa s dominated by oysters, which have high copper body concentrations. In cont rast to both copper and zinc, cadmium body concentrations showed little int erspecific variation. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.