On the role of abiogenic factors in the bioaccumulation of heavy metals by the hydrothermal fauna of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge

Abstract

The distributions of Fe, Mn, Zn, Cu, Ni, Co, Cr, Pb, As, Ag, Cd, Se, Sb, and Hg in 128 samples of tissues of the organisms that inhabit hydrothermal vent fields of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge (Menez Gwen, Snake Pit, and Rainbow) depending on the abiotic environmental parameters were studied. The majority of the elements studied showed direct correlations between their concentrations in the fluids released and in the tissues of hydrothermal organisms. A higher degree of bioaccumulation of metals was revealed in the Bathymodiolus mussels and Rimicaris shrimps from the Rainbow hydrothermal vent field as compared to their analogues from Menez Gwen and Snake Pit. This corresponds to the maximum concentrations of the majority of the metals studied in the Rainbow high-temperature hydrothermal fluids. The highest degree of bioaccumulation of heavy metals was found in gills of the symbiotrophic mussels Bathymodiolus and in maxillipeds of the ectosymbiotic shrimps Rimicaris, i.e., in the organs that function in dependence on chemosynthetic bacteria. Within the Rainbow vent field, the shrimps, which inhabit in biotopes with more high-temperature conditions and therefore are more strongly subjected to the influence of fluids, were found to contain higher metal contents than mollusks. The Fe-Mn hydroxide films that cover mussel shells might serve as important reservoirs of other metals related to Fe and Mn.