Imposex occurrence in marine whelks at a military facility in the high Arctic.
Imposex was found in the Arctic whelk Buccinum finmarkianum at several marine stations off Thule Air Base, an US military facility in Northwest Greenland. This indicates a widespread contamination with the antifouling agents, tributyltin (TBT) or triphenyltin (TPhT) in the area, but such contamination was not supported by the organotin analyses in sediments, whelks and clams, which in general was below the analytical detection limit. Organotin concentrations above the detection limit were found only at one station close to a quay, where the highest frequency of imposex also occurred. This suggests that imposex in B. finmarkianum is a biomarker of TBT more sensitive than the detection limits, which the analytical chemistry could achieve in this study.
Strand
Jakob
J
Department of Marine Ecology, National Environmental Research Institute, Frederiksborgvej 399, P.O. Box 358, 4000 Roskilde, Denmark. jak@dmu.dk
Glahder
Christian M
CM
Asmund
Gert
G
D000818:Animals; D001110:Arctic Regions; D012734:Disorders of Sex Development / Q000139:chemically induced; D004784:Environmental Monitoring / Q000379:methods*; D049851:Gastropoda; D019015:Geologic Sediments / Q000032:analysis; D006116:Greenland; D008975:Molluscacides / Q000032:analysis / Q000633:toxicity*; D009947:Organotin Compounds / Q000032:analysis / Q000633:toxicity; D012767:Ships; D014220:Trialkyltin Compounds / Q000032:analysis / Q000633:toxicity; D014872:Water Movements; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical / Q000032:analysis / Q000633:toxicity*
D008975:Molluscacides; D009947:Organotin Compounds; D014220:Trialkyltin Compounds; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical; C011559:tributyltin; C030665:triphenyltin