The interpretation of body trace metal concentrations in neogastropods from Hong Kong

Three species of neogastropods, i.e., Thais clavigera, Thais luteostoma and Morala musiva, were collected from 12 sites in the coastal waters of Hong Kong, including clean and known metal-enriched ones. Accordingly, body trac e metal concentrations varied greatly. Copper and zinc body concentrations compared poorly with those of accepted biomonitors and presumed metal conta mination profiles. Much is known about the feeding ecology of neogastropods on local shores and where direct observational data were not available, th eir diets could, nevertheless, be estimated reliably. Accumulated metal con centrations can be interpreted with regard to dietary history. T. luteostom a, for example, had body copper concentrations of 51.8 mug g(-1) on an expo sed shore and a diet of mainly barnacles. In contrast, on a sheltered shore (but only some 250 m distant) where the diet consisted mainly of oysters, body copper concentrations were similar to 15 times greater at 833 mug g(-1 ). Similar results were obtained for T. clavigera. The results of this anal ysis suggest that neogastropods can play a significant role in trace metal trophic transfer studies, especially as their representatives are intertida lly and subtidally ubiquitous and can be spatially separated into tropical specialists and temperate generalists. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All r ights reserved.