The neurotoxin domoic acid (DA), produced by diatoms Pseudo-nitzschia spp., is transferred to humans via consumption of contaminated bivalves. This study examines feeding mechanisms, namely reduced filtration, pre-ingestive rejection and poor absorption, that might explain the comparatively low DA levels commonly found in oysters during toxic Pseudo-nitzschia blooms. Clearance rate (CR), absorp...

Picture credits: Close up photographs of mussels and cockles on the back cover courtesy of the Eastern Sea Fisheries Joint Committee. All other photographs, CEFAS. Introduction 1. Since 1970, previously artisanal fisheries for cockles and mussels in The Wash have been transformed by the rapid introduction of more powerful fishing gears and vessels and the modernisation of processing plant to se...

In a recent Opinion in TREE [1], Gurevitch and Padilla question the generalization that biological invasions are a leading cause of species extinctions. The authors note that declines of native species frequently overlap in space and time with invasions by alien species, and these co-occurrences are sometimes used to infer a causal relationship – a potentially erroneous conclusion given that a ...

Citation: Pittura L, Avio CG, Giuliani ME, d’Errico G, Keiter SH, Cormier B, Gorbi S and Regoli F (2018) Microplastics as Vehicles of Environmental PAHs to Marine Organisms: Combined Chemical and Physical Hazards to the Mediterranean Mussels, Mytilus galloprovincialis. Front. Mar. Sci. 5:103. doi: 10.3389/fmars.2018.00103 Microplastics as Vehicles of Environmental PAHs to Marine Organisms: Comb...

© The Ecological Society of America www.frontiersinecology.org S zebra mussels (Dreissena polymorpha) first appeared in North America in 1988 (Hebert et al. 1989; see Carlton [in press] for a precise chronology), the mollusk has become the iconic alien species. The appearance of zebra mussels, together with many other invaders, highlighted the absence of effective controls on alien species in N...

The levels of carbohydrate and protein in the blood serum of mussels (Mytilus galloprovincialis Lmk.) experimentally cultured at two depths in Galicia (NW Spain) were determined over a period of 1 year. The changes in concentration of total and reducing carbohydrate and protein exhibited an annual cycle; their values varied from 0.053 to 0.700 mg/ml, from 0.050 to 0.669 mg/ml and from 0.620 to ...

In vitro bioassays would facilitate monitoring of estrogen-like compounds in mussels (Mytilus galloprovincialis) since they tend to accumulate lipophilic compounds in their fat and muscle tissue. However, estradiol (E2) steroid (already identified in mussels) could induce false positive responses. This study focuses on temporal variability in estrogenic responses of mussel extracts and the poss...

The story starts in November 1995 with an incident of human food poisoning in the Netherlands following the consumption of blue mussels, Mytilus edulis, that had been harvested in Killary Harbour, Ireland. The symptoms--nausea, vomiting, severe diarrhea, and stomach cramps--were similar to diarrhetic shellfish poisoning (DSP). Levels of DSP toxins in the mussels, however, were found to be very ...

Toxin accumulation by suspension-feeding qualifier depends on a balance between processes regulating toxin uptake (i.e. ingestion and absorption of toxic cells) and elimination (i.e. egestion, exchange among tissues, excretion, degradation and/or biotransformation) during exposure to toxic blooms. This laboratory study compares the size-specific uptake and elimination kinetics of domoic acid (D...

Bathymodiolus azoricus and Bathymodiolus puteoserpentis are symbiont-bearing mussels that dominate hydrothermal vent sites along the northern Mid-Atlantic Ridge (MAR). Both species live in symbiosis with two physiologically and phylogenetically distinct Gammaproteobacteria: a sulfur-oxidizing chemoautotroph and a methane-oxidizer. A detailed analysis of mussels collected from four MAR vent site...