Pugilina morio L., a New Imposex Exhibitor from South American Estuarine Environments: Approach for a Non-Lethal Method to Evaluate Imposex

• Autor(a) principal: Azevedo, Deyse de
• Data de Publicação: 2012
• Outros Autores: Barreira, Cristina de Almeida Rocha, Cascon, Helena Matthews, Castro, Ítalo Braga
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: eng
• Título da fonte: Repositório Institucional da Universidade Federal do Ceará (UFC)
• Texto Completo: http://www.repositorio.ufc.br/handle/riufc/63230
• topic: Organotin; Estuaries; Harbo; TBT

This is the first report on imposex occurrence in Pugilina morio. Imposex levels in P. morio from Ceara´ River Estuary were assessed by a non-lethal method. The obtained imposex parameters were: percentage = 37.1 %, female penis length index (FPLI) = 0.93 mm, relative penis length index (RPLI) = 6.5 %, and vas deferens sequence index (VDSI) = 1.0. Because imposex is induced by tributyltin, and P. morio is widely distributed on the East coast of South America, the species can be used as a tributyltin contamination sentinel in these estuaries. Additionally, a non-lethal method of evaluating imposex minimized the impact on the population of P. morio from sample collection, as all organisms were returned to the environment.