Endocrine-disrupting alkylphenols are widespread in the blood of lobsters from southern New England and adjacent offshore areas

View/ Open
Date
2012-06Author
Jacobs, Molly W.
Concept link
Laufer, Hans
Concept link
Stuart, James
Concept link
Chen, Ming
Concept link
Pan, Xuejun
Concept link
Metadata
Show full item recordCitable URI
https://hdl.handle.net/1912/5333As published
https://doi.org/10.2983/035.031.0216DOI
10.2983/035.031.0216Abstract
Endocrine-disrupting pollutants in rivers and oceans represent a poorly understood but potentially serious threat to the integrity of aquatic and coastal ecosystems. We surveyed the hemolymph of lobsters from across southern New England and adjacent offshore areas for 3 endocrine-disrupting alkylphenols. We found all 3 compounds in hemolymph from every year and almost every region sampled. Prevalence of contamination varied significantly between regions, ranging from 45% of lobsters from southern Massachusetts to 17% of lobsters from central Long Island Sound. Mean contamination levels varied significantly as a function of region, year sampled, and collection trip, and were highest overall in lobsters from western Long Island Sound and lowest in lobsters from central Long Island Sound. Surprisingly, lobsters from offshore areas were not less contaminated than lobsters from inshore areas. Contamination levels also did not vary as a function of lobster size or shell disease signs. Contaminated lobsters held in the laboratory did not retain alkylphenols, suggesting that hemolymph contamination levels represent recent, rather than long-term, exposure. Our data set is the first, to our knowledge, to survey endocrine-disrupting contaminants in a population across such a broad temporal and spatial scale. We show that alkylphenol contamination is a persistent, widespread, but environmentally heterogeneous problem in lobster populations in southern New England and adjacent offshore areas. Our work raises serious questions about the prevalence and accumulation of these endocrine-disrupting pollutants in an important fishery species.
Description
Author Posting. © National Shellfisheries Association , 2012. This article is posted here by permission of National Shellfisheries Association for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Journal of Shellfish Research 31 (2012): 563-571, doi:10.2983/035.031.0216.
Collections
Suggested Citation
Journal of Shellfish Research 31 (2012): 563-571Related items
Showing items related by title, author, creator and subject.
-
Gene expression in American lobster (Homarus americanus) with epizootic shell disease
Tarrant, Ann M.; Franks, Diana G.; Verslycke, Tim A. (National Shellfisheries Association, 2012-06)Epizootic shell disease (ESD) has been reported widely in American lobster (Homarus americanus, Milne Edwards) in southern New England. The appearance of irregular, deep lesions—characteristic of ESD—has been associated ... -
Mysid crustaceans as standard models for the screening and testing of endocrine-disrupting chemicals
Verslycke, Tim A.; Ghekiere, An; Raimondo, Sandy; Janssen, Colin R. (2006)Investigative efforts into the potential endocrine-disrupting effects of chemicals have mainly concentrated on vertebrates, with significantly less attention paid to understanding potential endocrine disruption in the ... -
Flame retardants, surfactants and organotins in sediment and mysid shrimp of the Scheldt estuary (The Netherlands)
Verslycke, Tim A.; Vethaak, A. Dick; Arijs, Katrien; Janssen, Colin R. (2004-12-14)Sediment and mysids from the Scheldt estuary, one of the largest and most polluted estuaries in Western Europe, were analyzed for a number of contaminants that have shown to possess endocrine-disrupting activity, i.e. ...