Estuaries are among the most productive environments in the world, by serving as feeding grounds, as nurseries for juvenile economically important fish and invertebrate larvae, and by providing shelter for many types of benthic organisms. However, they also rank among the most contaminated areas. Among pollutants, pesticides have become more common in estuarine areas. They are mainly introduced...

Marine ecosystems all over the globe are facing multiple simultaneous stressors including rapid climatic change and increased resource exploitation, such as fishing, petroleum exploration and shipping. The EU-funded DEVOTES project (DEVelopment Of innovative Tools for understanding marine biodiversity and assessing good Environmental Status) aims to better understand the relationships between p...

Bivalve mollusk production represents the principal aquaculture activity in Sardinia (40°03′ N, 9°05′ E). In 2021, 859 water samples and 1270 were analyzed. The species Alexandrium minutum caused accumulation of Paralytic Shellfish Toxins (PST) three bivalve mollusks. Dinophysis acuminata complex lipophilic toxins (LTs) belonging to okadaic acid group (OAs) 18 research paralytic shellfish (PSTs...

Oocysts of Cryptosporidium parvum, a zoonotic waterborne pathogen, can be removed by bivalve molluscs from contaminated water and retained on gills and in hemolymph. We identified oocysts of C. parvum in oysters from seven sites in the Chesapeake Bay area. These findings document the presence of C. parvum infectious for humans in oysters intended for human consumption.

This note is the first communication of the occurrence of the alien Anodonta (Sinanodonta) woodiana (Lea, 1834) (Bivalvia: Unionidae) in Lake Maggiore (Northern Italy). We have found empty shells of the bivalve first in August 2010, and since then, this species is colonizing rapidly the second deepest subalpine lake in Italy. Preliminary findings on morphometric features of A. woodiana in the L...

Bivalve molluscs are newly discovered models of successful aging. Here, we test the hypothesis that extremely long-lived bivalves are not uniquely resistant to oxidative stressors (eg, tert-butyl hydroperoxide, as demonstrated in previous studies) but exhibit a multistress resistance phenotype. We contrasted resistance (in terms of organismal mortality) to genotoxic stresses (including topoisom...

Empty mollusk shells may act as colonization surfaces for sclerobionts depending on the physical, chemical, and biological attributes of the shells. However, the main factors that can affect the establishment of an organism on hard substrates and the colonization patterns on modern and time-averaged shells remain unclear. Using experimental and field approaches, we compared sclerobiont (i.e., b...

Water acidification, temperature increases and changes in seawater salinity are predicted to occur in the near future. In such a global climate change (GCC) scenario, there is growing concern for the health status of both wild and farmed organisms. Bivalve molluscs, an important component of coastal marine ecosystems, are at risk. At the immunological level, the ability of an organism to mainta...

Bivalve relevance for ecosystem functioning and human food security emphasize the importance of predictions mussel performance under different climate stressors. Here, we address effect a latitudinal gradient temperature availability on fecundity Mediterranean to try better parameterize environmental forcing over reproductive output. We show that plays major role, acting as switching on–off mec...