The use of the dog-whelk, Nucella lapillus, as an indicator of tributyltin (TBT) contamination
Gibbs, P.E.; Bryan, G.W.; Pascoe, P.L.; Burt, G.R. (1987). The use of the dog-whelk, Nucella lapillus, as an indicator of tributyltin (TBT) contamination. J. Mar. Biol. Ass. U.K. 67(3): 507-523. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/S0025315400027260
In: Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom. Cambridge University Press/Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom: Cambridge. ISSN 0025-3154; e-ISSN 1469-7769, more
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| Keywords |
Tributyltin
Nucella lapillus (Linnaeus, 1758) [WoRMS]
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| Authors | | Top |
- Gibbs, P.E.
- Bryan, G.W.
- Pascoe, P.L.
- Burt, G.R.
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| Abstract |
The term 'imposex' was coined by Smith (1971) to describe the superimposition of male characters onto unparasitized and parasitized females of gonochoristic gastropods. In Nassarius obsoletus (Say) the development of imposex results in the female having one or more of the following characters: (1) a penis with a duct leading to (2) a vas deferens which passes back to the ventral channel of the capsule gland and (3) convolution of the normally straight gonadial oviduct (Smith, 1980). Imposex in the similarly gonochoristic Nucella lapillus (L.) was first noted by Blaber (1970) who found females with penis-like outgrowths in Plymouth Sound populations. Subsequent studies (Bryan et al. 1986; Gibbs & Bryan, 1986) have demonstrated that the incidence and intensity of imposex have since increased markedly in the same populations and that the phenomenon is widespread around south-west England. |
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