Rare earth element bioaccumulation in the yellow and silver European eel (Anguilla anguilla): A case study in the Loire estuary (France)

• Published in: Science of The Total Environment
• Main Authors: Lortholarie, Marjorie, Zalouk-Vergnoux, Aurore, Couderc, Mickaël, Kamari, Abderrahmane, François, Yannick, Herrenknecht, Christine, Poirier, Laurence
• Other Authors: Mer, molécules et santé EA 2160 (MMS), Le Mans Université (UM)-Université de Nantes - UFR des Sciences et des Techniques (UN UFR ST), Université de Nantes (UN)-Université de Nantes (UN)-Université de Nantes - UFR des Sciences Pharmaceutiques et Biologiques, Université de Nantes (UN)-Université de Nantes (UN)
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: HAL CCSD 2020
• Subjects: [SDE]Environmental Sciences; Anguilla anguilla
• Online Access: https://hal.science/hal-04654528; https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2019.134938

International audience In the present work, rare earth elements (REEs) were measured in European eel muscles (Anguilla anguilla) from the Loire estuary in France. This study site is characterized by a large anthropogenic pressurewith potential activities releasing REEs such as oil refineries, aeronautic and naval industries, wind turbine industries, hospitals with magnetic resonance imaging and coal-fired power plants. These activitiesmay lead to increased REE concentrations in sediments the primary habitat of European eels. In the present work, REE bioaccumulation was evaluated by determining the concentrations in yellow and silvereel muscles sampled at three different locations in the Loire estuary and at two periods (2011/2012and 2018/2019). The aims of this study were the understanding of the spatio-temporal influences (sampling site and sampling period) and intraspecific variations (age, sex, sexual maturation, length, weight,and parasitism) on the whole REE bioaccumulation. The mean value of the sum of REE concentrations(PREEs) was 2.91, 6.48 and 12.60 mg/kg of muscle from respectively yellow eels, female silver eels andmale silver eels fished in 2018/2019. The results showed that silver males accumulated more REEs thansilver females and silver eels accumulate more REEs than yellow ones. Regarding the determination ofspatio-temporal variations, an increase of REE concentrations for silver eel muscles between the two periods was observed, certainly related to the increase of REE uses. Finally, a trend of higher contamination ofeels sampled in the downstream of Nantes was noticed for yellow eels.