The sampling sites and collected materials: live specimens (l.s.) of Rapana venosa and its empty shells (e.s.) from the after-storm ejects on the marine coast.
Abstract
The presented chapter will show the results of long-term researches (2004–2013), concerning the study of variability of the size-mass relationships in mollusks Rapana venosa from the northwestern part of Black Sea (Odessa region, Zmiyiny Island, Danube Delta, Karkinitsky, and Tendra Gulfs) and near the eastern coast of Crimea (Sudak Gulf). The comparative evaluation has been made on the relationships between the total mass of the mollusks, mass of its soft body, and wide shells on the one hand and the size of animals (shell height, diameter, and thickness) in each study area on the other hand. Furthermore, the study of the appearance of the imposex in female mollusks (the small “penis” presence), “biphallia phenomenon” in male individual, and potential dependence of the occurrence of such anomalies on the ecological state of the marine coastal areas will be presented.
Keywords
- Mollusca
- Gastropoda
- marine rapa whelk
- Rapana venosa (Valenciennes)
- morphometric characteristics
- size-mass relationships
- imposex in female mollusks
- biphallia phenomenon
- northwestern Black Sea
- Ukrainian shelf
1. Introduction
The Asian marine gastropod
The purpose of our work was to study the variability of the size-mass relationships in
2. Material and methods
The living adult specimens of
The animals were collected by diver on the rocks, stony bottom covered by mussels, on the sand, or on the sand with broken mussel shells. In the water area of the Odessa Sea Trade port, live specimens were collected on the surface of concrete breakwater constructions covered by mussel fouling. The empty
Sampling site | Data | Number of specimens | Depth (m) | Substrate |
---|---|---|---|---|
Odessa coast and adjacent areas | 2004–2013 | 284 (l.s.) | 3.0–10.0 | R, S, S&BMS, MF |
126 (e.s.) | — | — | ||
Odessa Sea Trade port | 18.07.2006 | 20 (l.s.) | 5.0–7.0 | CPC |
Zmiyiny Island | 2004–2008 | 140 (l.s.) | 7.0–12.0 | R, S, S&BMS, MF |
Danube Delta | 21.05.2005 | 1 (l.s.) | 21.0 | M |
Karkinitcky Gulf | 10.09.2008 | 5 (l.s.) | 14.0 | S, S&BMS |
17.06.2011 | 3 (l.s.) | 6.0–10.0 | S | |
17.06.2011 | 29 (e.s.) | — | — | |
Tendra Gulf | 07.07.2005 | 3 (l.s.) | 4.0–5.0 | S |
Sudak Gulf, eastern Crimea | 04.05.2004 | 60 (l.s.) | 12.0–13.0 | S |
Tarkhankut Cape, western Crimea | 20.09.2009 | 13 (l.s.) | 10.0–11.0 | S |
The height (
The data of the morphometric parameters underwent standard statistical analysis (STATGRAPHICS Plus 5.0 program). Differences between the sampling sites in the measurements made were tested both by univariate and multivariate regression analysis of variance (ANOVA). On the basis of these data, statistically significant (p < 0.01) equations of mass-linear size of their shells from each of the study areas were drawn up.
3. Results and discussion
3.1 The morphometric features of Rapana in northwestern Black Sea (Ukrainian coast)
The height of shells (
Area | Min–max | ln | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 370 | ||||||
370 | −0.6387 | 1.0661 | 0.986 | 97.30 | 0.051 | ||
370 | −3.9840 | 1.0609 | 0.835 | 69.76 | 0.202 | ||
260 | −8.9635 | 3.0582 | 0.990 | 98.09 | 0.128 | ||
260 | −13.0271 | 3.7951 | 0.979 | 95.96 | 0.234 | ||
260 | −8.5490 | 2.7869 | 0.987 | 97.58 | 0.150 | ||
54 | −14.0386 | 4.2661 | 0.910 | 94.02 | 0.156 | ||
2 | 60 | ||||||
60 | −1.0625 | 1.1869 | 0.990 | 97.96 | 0.023 | ||
60 | −7.4876 | 1.9989 | 0.811 | 65.74 | 0.191 | ||
60 | −9.2083 | 3.1332 | 0.971 | 94.26 | 0.102 | ||
60 | −13.5531 | 3.8492 | 0.966 | 93.35 | 0.136 | ||
60 | М3 = 15.62 – 91.00 | −8.6530 | 2.9078 | 0.948 | 89.82 | 0.129 |
The mollusks from the NWBS were characterized by more elongated shells than specimens inhabiting the Crimean banks. The relation of shell height to its diameter (
Typical shells of similar size mollusks (
The comparison of relations of the thickness of shell border (
The shell mass (
If we compare the diagrams of the dependence of the mollusk’s soft body mass (
At the same time, the proportion of shell mass in the total mass of the animal (
In our opinion, a much thinner and less massive of
At the same time, there are other opinions on the matter, excluding the direct dependence of the thickness and weight of the shells of mollusks on the level of salinity of the marine environment in the area of their habitat. According to I.P. Bondarev, comparative analysis of the thickness of the shells of
There is also an opinion that the ecological conditions in the different biotopes defined, first of all, the size and thickness of
At the same time, in our opinion, in the northwestern part of the Black Sea, the food base of
The study of the consumption rates of rapa whelk in natural environment showed that this predatory mollusk most actively consumes the mussels from 30 to 40 mm length (40.2 ± 3.2%). On average, one predator with a shell height (
The main function of mollusks’ shell is protection of soft organs of animal from outer biotic and abiotic subjections, including the external pressure increasing with depth. In this regard, it should be noted that the relatively small depths in the NWBS coastal areas (11–15 m near Odessa coast and 10–25 m in the Danube area than depths of more than 30–50 m near the Crimean and Caucasian coasts) are favorable for the survival of
The discovery in May 21, 2005, for the first time, a live adult male specimen of
In comparison with the same size individuals from the southeastern coast of Crimea (Sudak) and the region of Zmiyiny Island, this specimen was more elongated. The ratio of the height of the shell to its diameter (
Area (data) | |||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 (21.05.2005) | 1 | 82.7 | 53.2 | 1.3 | 79.8 | 35.2 | 34.4 |
2 (06.08.2004) | 4 | 81.0 ± 0.4 | 53.3 ± 0.5 | 1.9 ± 0.1 | 78.5 ± 0.9 | 36.1 ± 3.2 | 39.3 ± 3.3 |
3 (06.08.2004) | 4 | 82.3 ± 0.9 | 60.8 ± 1.1 | 2.4 ± 0.1 | 104.9 ± 6.1 | 47.7 ± 2.6 | 52.4 ± 3.6 |
4 (04.05.2004) | 7 | 82.9 ± 0.6 | 66.6 ± 0.5 | 3.9 ± 0.1 | 105.5 ± 4.1 | 32.3 ± 1.1 | 67.5 ± 3.4 |
The final equations of the multiple regression analysis linking the basic mass parameters (
Since the
3.2 The imposex appearance in female specimens of Rapana from different marine coast areas on the Ukrainian shelf of Black Sea
The
Many researchers have the opinion that this abnormality is caused by the exposure of those animals to organotin compounds (Ots), mainly tributylin (TBT) and triphenyltin (TPT), of the antifouling paints, used worldwide to cover the boats and other metallic constructions in order to prevent corrosion [21, 22, 23]. Owing to the environmentally deleterious properties of Ots, TBT-based antifouling paints were banned by the International Maritime Organization in 2008; however, these paints are still widely used [24]. In the last years, imposexed females of
In the Black Sea, this phenomenon has been discovered for the first time near Odessa coast, NWBS region [28]. Among the 135 specimens of female
The lowest occurrence of imposex among female
According to their morphological characteristics, the imposex females distanced from males and typically female individuals. Thus, the total mass of the individual (
Sex | Lim | Lim | ln | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Male | 21 | 66.7–81.4 | −9.567 | 3.150 | 91.48 | 0.106 | |
−17.322 | 4.795 | 97.60 | 0.134 | ||||
−9.263 | 2.969 | 65.83 | 0.134 | ||||
−7.595 | 2.193 | 68.57 | 0.154 | ||||
Female | 12 | 62.2–74.6 | −8.517 | 2.913 | 88.13 | 0.085 | |
−8.854 | 2.775 | 62.76 | 0.141 | ||||
−7.137 | 2.452 | 61.94 | 0.127 | ||||
−9.355 | 2.635 | 64.25 | 0.141 | ||||
Imposex female | 12 | 63.2–84.2 | −10.820 | 3.465 | 92.50 | 0.095 | |
−12.206 | 3.575 | 86.40 | 0.122 | ||||
−9.616 | 3.067 | 91.92 | 0.097 | ||||
−15.023 | 3.937 | 87.04 | 0.161 |
The results we obtained about the morphometric differences in abnormal females of
The clear differences in the graphs of the relations between the dry mass of a soft body of mollusks (
As seen in the figure, the trend line of the depending
3.3 The first record of the biphallia phenomenon in male rapa whelk in the Black Sea
One of the varieties of imposexuality in anomalous females of Gastropoda is the appearance of more than one penial structure known as “double penis” or “biphallia.” The first record of it was made for imposex females of
The age of the whelk was more than 2 years; the height of its shell (
The cases of appearance of “imposex” in various marine gastropod species have been used in several areas around the world as a tool to monitor the contamination by organotin compounds. So far, imposex-related biphallic structures have been reported for females of
4. Conclusions
The predatory marine gastropod
Acknowledgments
The author wishes to particularly thank the researchers of the Institute of Marine Biology (formerly the Odessa Branch of the Institute of Biology of the Southern Seas) National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine: A.P. Kurakin, for diving and collecting the live mollusks; V.V. Adobovsky, for his help in collecting the empty shells from the after-storm ejects on the Odessa coast; and Dr. A.Yu. Varigin, who found and kindly presented the anomalous mollusk with “double penis.”
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