Influence of food (ciliate and phytoplankton) on the trophic transfer of inorganic and methyl-mercury in the Pacific cupped oyster Crassostrea gigas

• Published in: Environmental Pollution
• Main Authors: Metian, Marc, Pouil, Simon, Dupuy, Christine, Teyssié, Jean-Louis, Warnau, Michel, Bustamante, Paco
• Other Authors: Environment Laboratories (IAEA), International Atomic Energy Agency Vienna (IAEA), LIttoral ENvironnement et Sociétés (LIENSs), La Rochelle Université (ULR)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Marine Environment Laboratories Monaco (IAEA-MEL)
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: HAL CCSD 2020
• Subjects: Bivalve; Bioaccumulation; Food pathway; Mercury; Radiotracers; [SDV.TOX.ECO]Life Sciences [q-bio]/Toxicology/Ecotoxicology; Crassostrea gigas
• Online Access: https://hal.science/hal-02561065; https://hal.science/hal-02561065/document; https://hal.science/hal-02561065/file/Metian%20et%20al%202020%20ENPO.pdf; https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envpol.2019.113503

International audience Diet is an important route of mercury (Hg) uptake in marine organisms. Trophic transfer of Hg throughout the food webs may be influenced by various factors, including diet and Hg speciation. Bivalves such as oysters are widely used as bioindicators of trace element pollution such as Hg. Nevertheless, our current knowledge regarding their ability to accumulate Hg from their diet is mainly based on experiments performed using phytoplankton. In their natural environment, oysters feed on a variety of feeds including ciliates, detritus, in addition to phytoplankton. The present study aimed at examining the influence of diet composition on the trophic transfer of inorganic Hg (iHg) and methylmercury (MeHg) in the Pacific cupped oyster Crassostrea gigas. The pulse-chase feeding method was used with two radiolabeled feed items: a heterotrophic protist (Uronema marina) and phytoplankton with a diatom model, Thalassiosira pseudonana. Depuration of dietary Hg in the oysters was followed for 50 d. Kinetic parameters including Assimilation Efficiency (AE) and efflux rate constant (ke) were calculated. Our results shown that oysters fed on ciliates assimilated 96 ± 1% and 31 ± 2% of the ingested MeHg and iHg respectively while these elements were similarly assimilated in the oysters fed on phytoplankton (78 ± 3% and 86 ± 4% for MeHg and iHg, respectively). Mercury assimilation in oyster is thus diet dependent (significant differences in AE, p < 0.05), metal species-dependent and likely resulting from variations in Hg bioavailability in the two feed items tested and a gut passage time-dependent of the ingested matrix.