Filter-feeding organism

Tin appears in seafood as butylated tin compounds and as methyltin compounds in leachate from plastics. Tributyltin was used for many years to control barnacles and other marine growths on the hulls of ships. These organisms attached to the ships increase the drag on the ships and make them less energy efficient. Tributyltin leaches from the paint into the surrounding waters and can reach levels of concern in eonfined areas, such as harbors. Filter feeding organisms, such as oysters and mussels, as well as detritus feeders accumulate butyltin compounds and these compounds... 

Filter-feeding organisms concentrate organic matter in their guts and in fecal pellets. 

The oyster, Crassostrea vlrglnlca, was the species used to monitor uptake by sessile filter-feeding organisms. At least two dozen large oysters were collected from each organism sampling site. These were rinsed in ambient water, wrapped in aluminum foil and stored in plastic Isags on ice for transport to the laboratory where they were then frozen in their shells until ready for analysis. 

Bioassays for BT toxin are sensitive because the test animals function as a concentrator and a detector simultaneously. When exposed to very low concentrations, the toxin is accumulated as the animal feeds over a period of days. Compared to immunoassays, bioassays for the BT toxins are generally 50-100 times more sensitive (Table II). As with other residue procedures, sample work-up can be employed to extend the detection limits of an enzyme immunoassay and to remove interfering materials at the same time. Such work up will be essential if immunoassays are to be as sensitive as bioassays using filter feeding organisms. 

Chronic, low-level inputs of oil into aquatic environments can be conveniently studied using suitably sessile, filter-feeding organisms, such as mussels (e.g. Mytilus edulis). Mussels have been found to accumulate hydrocarbons in their tissues, and accumulation appears to continue with increasing exposure. These organisms... 

Using phthalate levels (derived from plastics) in the tissue of larger filter feeding organisms such as whales as indicators of microplastics pollution has been suggested (Fossi et al., 2012). However, plasticized PVC that incorporate phthalates is only a small fraction of the plastics debris sampled at sea. 

Filter feeding The filtering or trapping of edible particles from seawater. This feeding mode is typical of many zooplankton and other marine organisms of limited mobility. 

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