B. Bauer et al., THE USE OF LITTORINA-LITTOREA FOR TRIBUTYLTIN (TBT) EFFECT MONITORINGRESULTS FROM THE GERMAN TBT SURVEY 1994 1995 AND LABORATORY EXPERIMENTS/, Environmental pollution, 96(3), 1997, pp. 299-309
Field investigations and laboratory experiments were performed to test
the applicability of the intersex phenomenon in Littorina littorea fo
r biological TBT-effect monitoring and to give further insights into t
oxicological aspects of intersex development. The intensity of the phe
nomenon is correlated with the degree of TBT contamination in the envi
ronment, Statistically highly significant correlations of biological i
ndices and TBT concentrations in tissue and sediment exist, Inter sex
can be induced only in juvenile and sexually immature females and its
intensity depends on the ontogenetic stage of development during TBT e
xposure, For the first time, malformations in male periwinkles closely
related to the TBT contamination can be described; the reduction of m
ale mamilliform penial glands shows highly significant correlations to
TBT concentrations in tissues. The inter sex phenomenon in Littorina
littorea is proposed for a biological TBT-effect monitoring in those a
reas where the dogwhelk Nucella lapillus, as the more sensitive specie
s in European survey's, is absent. The intersex index (ISl) as the mea
n value of the intersex stages in a sample should he used as the most
sensitive biological parameter fbr the assessment of the TBT contamina
tion in Littorina littorea. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science Ltd.