Reproductive anomalies in stenoglossan snails related to pollution from marinas

Abstract

Over 3090 snails of the dioecious intertidal species Nassarius obsoletus Say were collected from a total of 71 localities. Their reproductive anatomy was examined for a superimposition of male characteristics on to the normal female anatomy, an abnormality called 'imposex'. Imposex was rated numerically in terms of the fraction of the population affected and the intensity of expression in bearer snails. An initial survey of 22 localities in Fairfield and Westport, Connecticut, led to the hypothesis that imposex was related to a substance arising from marinas. This was tested at nine pairs of marina and control localities in Long Island Sound, as well as six pairs along a transect ranging from Rhode Island to Georgia. Imposex scores were significantly higher at the marina locality in every pair. Further confirmation was found in a detailed survey of the estuarine harbor at Southport, Connecticut, which showed that adjacent populations could differ in the amount of imposex to the extent that both the snails and the waters they lived in remained separated by natural or man-made barriers. Imposex has been found in populations of N. obsoletus ranging from Damariscotta, Maine, to Savannah, Georgia, and it has been reported from San Francisco Bay, California. Similar anatomical abnormalities have been reported in at least 27 other species of taenioglossan and stenoglossan snails, extending the range to the Atlantic and Mediterranean coast of Europe and the British Isles. Concern is raised regarding the possible existence of another global pollutant with novel effects on marina biota.