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Effects of the Erika Oil Spill on the Common Starfish Asterias rubens, Evaluated by Field and Laboratory Studies

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Abstract

Impacts of the Erika oil spill on the common starfish Asterias rubens were investigated in the field and using laboratory experiments based on contamination via food at different stages of the starfish reproductive cycle. Two months after the shipwreck, levels of hydrocarbons characteristic of Erika fuel were significantly higher in pyloric ceca and body wall of A. rubens from a contaminated site, compared with control animals from an unpolluted reference area. Concomitant immunological responses and detoxification enzyme activity (CYP1A) were enhanced in the impacted starfish, suggesting rapid biotransformation processes. This was confirmed by laboratory experiments which showed a fast PAH uptake during the 10 first days of contamination and the start of biotransformation processes from the third day. Our study confirms benzo(a)pyrene hydroxylase activity (BPH) in A. rubens and demonstrates the influence of CYP1A in the conversion of insoluble PAHs into soluble derivatives in this species for the first time. The rapidity of decontamination could explain why starfish growth, level of motile activity, reproductive investment, energy storage, and larval development were not significantly affected by these contaminants.

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Acknowledgments

This study was supported by the French Ministry of Ecology and Sustainable Development within the framework of the “Erika Monitoring” program, a CGRI-FNRS-CNRS cooperation agreement, and by a French Research Ministry grant for PhD cosupervision. We are grateful to Ph. Pernet (ULB) and M. Le Meur (LPTC) for their help in the analytic and experimental work, to M. Briand for her help with the preparation of figures, and to Dr. H. McCombie for revision of the English.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratoire de Biologie Marine (CP 160/15), Université Libre de Bruxelles, 50 Av. F.D. Roosevelt, B-1050, Bruxelles, Belgium

    Guillemette Joly-Turquin, Philippe Dubois, Geoffroy Coteur & Bruno Danis

  2. Laboratoire de l’Environnement Marin (UMR 6539), Université de Bretagne Occidentale, Institut Européen de la Mer, place N. Copernic, F-29780, Plouzané, France

    Guillemette Joly-Turquin, Sandra Leyzour & Monique Guillou

  3. LPTC UMR CNRS 5472, Université de Bordeaux 351, crs de la Libération, 33405, Talence, France

    Karine Le Menach & Hélène Budzinski

Authors
  1. Guillemette Joly-Turquin
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  2. Philippe Dubois
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  4. Bruno Danis
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  8. Monique Guillou
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Correspondence to Monique Guillou.

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Joly-Turquin, G., Dubois, P., Coteur, G. et al. Effects of the Erika Oil Spill on the Common Starfish Asterias rubens, Evaluated by Field and Laboratory Studies. Arch Environ Contam Toxicol 56, 209–220 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00244-008-9176-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00244-008-9176-8

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