Study of sub-Antarctic Limpets Metabolism to Improve the Resource Sustaintability

P M GONZÁLEZ; S. PUNTARULO; G. MALANGA

Enfoques Interdisciplinarios para la Sustentabilidad del Ambiente, Conservación y Degradación de Recursos

SACyTA, Buenos Aires

Año: 2015; p. 187 - 192

Molluscs, widely used in prehistoric diets, have been historically considered as animportant potential food resource1. Exploitation of benthonic components(Concholepas, limptes, sea urchins, razor clams and clams, etc.) is a part of the craftcatch. Limpets of the Nacella genus are exploited in Chile and in other Asian andEuropean countries2. Marine gastropod catching is very low in Argentina2 and theconsumption and capture is limited to restaurants or families. However, the interestfor these products in the Buenos Aires market is constantly increasing even thoughan official fishery regulation is still missing. This fact may lead to an increasing use ofnatural banks that would result in the decrease of the population densities andchange the specific biodiversity turning these organisms in threatened species. Thegood quality of the limpet flesh is often acknowledged; however, neither the basicnutritional contribution nor the food safety is known.Limpets are linked to temperate or relatively cold seas, where they reach thehigher specific biodiversity. Nacella magellanica (Gmelin 1971) and N. deaurata(Gmelin 1971) are the most conspicuous limpet species in the Beagle Channel,Tierra del Fuego, Argentina. Even though they inhabit the same region, the variationin their shore level distribution affects the animals contact to aerial or marineenvironmental conditions. The dissimilar regime of exposition refers to extremetemperatures (under 0°C and more than 20°C during winter and summer time,respectively) for N. magellanica; meanwhile, N. deaurata is regularly covered bymore than 0.3 m water with a temperature of 4°C in winter and 11°C in summer3.Gills are the first tissue in contact with the surrounding water and may properly reflectthe environmental changing effects. The high content of polyunsaturated fatty acids4of the membrane lipids in marine organisms implies a special inclination to lipidperoxidation5, and the particular response of their antioxidant system may reflect anadaptation of these species to their vastly changeable environment6. The mainobjective of this work was to obtain basic information on the metabolism, biochemicalcomposition and antioxidant activity in the gills of two sub-Antarctic limpets N.magellanica and N. deaurata, collected during summer time.