Several taxonomically distinct organisms have been shown to accumulate tributyltin (TBT). Accumulation from water, the most studied route, leads to tissue burdens greater than 3 ug/g, dependent upon external concentration, in fish, crabs and bivalves. Accumulation from tainted food appears to be important in crabs and bivalves (fish have yet to be tested). Humic acids weakly bind TBT but do not significantly reduce accumulation of TBT by marine mussels, Mytilus edulis. Kaolin, a representative clay mineral does not reduce TBT accumulation by mussels, presumably because it binds TBT poorly. Two processes appear to control TBT bioaccumulation.
Personal use of this material is permitted. Permission from IEEE must be obtained for all other uses, in any current or future media, including reprinting/republishing this material for advertising or promotional purposes, creating new collective works, for resale or redistribution to servers or lists, or reuse of any copyrighted component of this work in other works.
This manuscript is available at http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/ and may be cited as: Laughlin, R. B., Jr. (1986). Bioaccumulation of tributyltin: the link between environment and organism. In Oceans ‘86 proceedings: the Ocean -- an international workplace: conference. Vol. 4, Proceedings International Organotin Symposium [23-25 September, 1986]. (pp. 1206-1209). Piscataway, N.J.: Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers. doi:10.1109/OCEANS.1986.1160346
Florida Atlantic University. Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute contribution #514.