A quarter century of recovery of the whelk Thais orbita from tributyltin pollution off Perth, Western Australia

Imposex is a condition in which females of dioecious marine snails develop rudimentary male characteristics. It is caused by tributyltin (TBT) used as an antifoulant in vessel paints since the late 1960s. Following the 2008 international ban on TBT, a decreasing rate of imposex has been observed wor...

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Main Authors: Wells, Fred, Gagnon, Marthe Monique
Format: Journal Article
Language:English
Published: PERGAMON-ELSEVIER SCIENCE LTD 2020
Subjects:
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/83585
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author Wells, Fred
Gagnon, Marthe Monique
author_facet Wells, Fred
Gagnon, Marthe Monique
author_sort Wells, Fred
building Curtin Institutional Repository
collection Online Access
description Imposex is a condition in which females of dioecious marine snails develop rudimentary male characteristics. It is caused by tributyltin (TBT) used as an antifoulant in vessel paints since the late 1960s. Following the 2008 international ban on TBT, a decreasing rate of imposex has been observed worldwide. In Western Australia, imposex surveys of the whelk Thais orbita up to 2011 in the Perth metropolitan area suggested a decreasing trend but a significant recovery has not been confirmed. Collection of T. orbita from 11 sites in 2019 demonstrated a virtually complete recovery from imposex. Although it is generally accepted that male snails are not affected by TBT, the historical data set allowed confirmation that the male penis is of similar size in T. orbita collected at heavily affected sites and at relatively unaffected sites. Similarly, imposexed female snails had similar shell lengths to female snails at non-impacted sites.
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spelling curtin-20.500.11937-835852022-08-12T05:17:02Z A quarter century of recovery of the whelk Thais orbita from tributyltin pollution off Perth, Western Australia Wells, Fred Gagnon, Marthe Monique Science & Technology Life Sciences & Biomedicine Environmental Sciences Marine & Freshwater Biology Environmental Sciences & Ecology Imposex Whelk TBT Tributyltin Conus Gastropod NUCELLA-LAPILLUS BUTYLTIN COMPOUNDS IMPOSEX CONTAMINATION ACCUMULATION BIOINDICATOR GASTROPODA MURICIDAE INDICATOR Imposex is a condition in which females of dioecious marine snails develop rudimentary male characteristics. It is caused by tributyltin (TBT) used as an antifoulant in vessel paints since the late 1960s. Following the 2008 international ban on TBT, a decreasing rate of imposex has been observed worldwide. In Western Australia, imposex surveys of the whelk Thais orbita up to 2011 in the Perth metropolitan area suggested a decreasing trend but a significant recovery has not been confirmed. Collection of T. orbita from 11 sites in 2019 demonstrated a virtually complete recovery from imposex. Although it is generally accepted that male snails are not affected by TBT, the historical data set allowed confirmation that the male penis is of similar size in T. orbita collected at heavily affected sites and at relatively unaffected sites. Similarly, imposexed female snails had similar shell lengths to female snails at non-impacted sites. 2020 Journal Article http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/83585 10.1016/j.marpolbul.2020.111408 English http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ PERGAMON-ELSEVIER SCIENCE LTD fulltext
spellingShingle Science & Technology
Life Sciences & Biomedicine
Environmental Sciences
Marine & Freshwater Biology
Environmental Sciences & Ecology
Imposex
Whelk
TBT
Tributyltin
Conus
Gastropod
NUCELLA-LAPILLUS
BUTYLTIN COMPOUNDS
IMPOSEX
CONTAMINATION
ACCUMULATION
BIOINDICATOR
GASTROPODA
MURICIDAE
INDICATOR
Wells, Fred
Gagnon, Marthe Monique
A quarter century of recovery of the whelk Thais orbita from tributyltin pollution off Perth, Western Australia
title A quarter century of recovery of the whelk Thais orbita from tributyltin pollution off Perth, Western Australia
title_full A quarter century of recovery of the whelk Thais orbita from tributyltin pollution off Perth, Western Australia
title_fullStr A quarter century of recovery of the whelk Thais orbita from tributyltin pollution off Perth, Western Australia
title_full_unstemmed A quarter century of recovery of the whelk Thais orbita from tributyltin pollution off Perth, Western Australia
title_short A quarter century of recovery of the whelk Thais orbita from tributyltin pollution off Perth, Western Australia
title_sort quarter century of recovery of the whelk thais orbita from tributyltin pollution off perth, western australia
topic Science & Technology
Life Sciences & Biomedicine
Environmental Sciences
Marine & Freshwater Biology
Environmental Sciences & Ecology
Imposex
Whelk
TBT
Tributyltin
Conus
Gastropod
NUCELLA-LAPILLUS
BUTYLTIN COMPOUNDS
IMPOSEX
CONTAMINATION
ACCUMULATION
BIOINDICATOR
GASTROPODA
MURICIDAE
INDICATOR
url http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/83585