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Long-term tributyltin (TBT)-induced sterilization of neogastropods: persistence of effects in Ocenebra erinacea over 20 years in the vicinity of Falmouth (Cornwall, UK)

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  04 August 2008

P.E. Gibbs
P.E. Gibbs*
Affiliation:
Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom, Citadel Hill, Plymouth, DevonUKPL1 2PB
*
Correspondence should be addressed to: P.E. Gibbs, Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom, Citadel Hill, Plymouth, DevonUKPL1 2PB email: peg@mba.ac.uk
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Abstract

A population of the neogastropod Ocenebra erinacea sited close to the shipyard at Falmouth (Cornwall: south-west England) has been monitored over a period of 20 years for the effects of exposure to the antifouling agent tributyltin (TBT). During the years 1986 to 1995 the proportion of females sterilized through abnormal development of the oviduct increased from 36% to 87%. Despite legislative restrictions on TBT paints, in 2006 there was little improvement in the reproductive capacity of the population in that over 75% of females still showed the same abnormality. At the sampling site, levels of TBT in surface water had a background of around 2 ng Sn l−1 throughout the period of study with higher peaks up to 50 ng Sn l−1. Much of the TBT pollution in the Fal estuary and environs in recent years appears to be the result of discharges from the shipyard at Falmouth within the estuary.

Keywords

long-term TBT pollutionFal estuaryneogastropod sterilizationOcenebra erinacea
Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom , Volume 89 , Issue 1 , February 2009 , pp. 135 - 138
Copyright
Copyright © Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom 2008

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