Effects of mercury on embryonic development and larval growth of the sea urchin Echinometra mathaei from the Persian Gulf

This study investigated the effects of increasing mercury (Hg) concentration on early developmental stages of sea urchin, Echinometra mathaei, as a bioindicator. The toxicity test was carried out after the gamete released induction and fertilization in six concentrations of mercury within the range of 4, 8, 16, 32, 64 and 128 µg/L. Embryos samples were incubated for 30 h in control and test solutions. After incubation, the percentage of developed 4-arm pluteus larvae was recorded in each group and embryonic abnormalities were studied by a microscope. Results of this study indicate that exposure of embryos to increasing mercury concentrations lead to abnormalities such as changes to shape and size of pluteus larval arms and also arrested development in early embryonic stages. Furthermore, embryos were analyzed to determine mercury absorption by cold vapour atomic absorption spectrometry method (AAS). The median effective concentration (EC50) value calculated for mercury was 17/42 µg/L.

Bibliographic Details

Main Authors:	Sadripour, E., Mortazavi, M.S., Mahdavi Shahri, N.
Format:	article biblioteca
Language:	English
Published:	2013
Subjects:	Biology, Environment, Pollution, Mercury, Sea urchin, Toxicity test, Echinometra mathaei, Persian Gulf, Iran,
Online Access:	http://hdl.handle.net/1834/37413
Tags:	Add Tag No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!