Abstract
The marine annelid Sabella pavonina Savigny accumulates silver up to 22·05 ± 7·10 mg kg−1 dry weight when immersed for 2 months in sea water with 50 μg liter−1 Ag. The connective tissue of the nephridia and of the gut are the main accumulation sites of the metal. Silver, together with sulphur, are located in star-shaped granules having a mean diameter of 0·18 ± 0·03 μm. Simultaneously to the silver accumulation in the connective tissue, an excretory process assumes the transcellular transit of silver granules via the lysosomes and the metal is released in the urinary fluid within discarded cell fragments. Eight weeks after the end of the Ag accumulation experiments, newly synthesized connective tissue, devoid of silver granules, underlies the nephridia and the gut epithelium. The few remaining star granules in the nephridia are pushed towards the middle of the connective tissue and their silver concentration decreases from 2182 ± 760 mmol kg−1 to 280 ± 50 mmol kg−1. A similar decrease of sulphur occurs. The contamination process is thus reversible.
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