Sex inversion in the Black Sea mussel Mytilus galloprovincialis Lamarck, 1819 under the influence of heavy metals

Abstract

Heavy metals may be one of the factors causing a change in sexual structure in the settlements of mussel Mytilus galloprovincialis Lam. cultivated on the Sevastopol seaside. The aim of the work was to study the influence of Zn+2, Cd+2, Pb+2, Hg+2, Cu+2 ions on the sex inversion of cultivated mussels during spring post spawning of gonads. Chronic intoxication of female mussel at ion concentration of 2 MPC was carried out for a month in laboratory conditions. After 3 months of a natural experiment, the sex of each mollusc was individually examined by the method of visual study of gonad smears. The sex inversion of the females occurred under the influence of all heavy metals. The maximum shares of males were observed after the influence of Cu+2 and Pb+2 – 65 and 52 %, respectively. Both laboratory and natural experiments showed high toxic effect of Cu+2 and Hg+2 ions, with female mortality reaching 33 and 13 %, respectively.