Toxicity of mercury during the embryonic development of Chasmagnathus granulatus (Brachyura, Varunidae).

SÁNCHEZ, M.V.; CAHANSKY, A.V.; LÓPEZ G. AND E.M. RODRÍGUEZ.

ENVIRONMENTAL RESEARCH

ACADEMIC PRESS

Año: 2005 vol. 99 p. 78 - 79

0013-9351

Ovigerous females of the estuarine Chasmagnathus granulatus were exposed to mercury (0,1 mg/L) during the entire, early or late embryonic development. A delay in egg incubation period and some morphological abnormalities were detected in larvae hatched from exposed females. Particularly, hypopigmentation of body chromatophores was the abnormality that showed the highest incidence, this incidence being greter when ovigerous females were exposed to mercury either during the totality of just the first half of the egg incubation period. In contrast, the effect of mercury on the morphology and pigmentation of eyes was greater when the exposure comprised the totality or just the second half of the incubation development. Althoug these abnormalities have benn observed in the same species with other heavy metals, such as zinc and copper, the responsiveness during the early and late embryonic development was different with mercury