Effect of the elemental content of shells of the bivalve mollusks (Mytilus galloprovincialis) from Saldanha Bay (South Africa) on their crystallographic texture
Date
2021
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
MDPI
Abstract
A both wild and farmed mussels in natural conditions, anthropogenic inputs are usually
reflected in the increase of the content of specific elements. To determine the possible effect of the
elemental patterns of farmed and wild mussels (Mytilus galloprovincialis) collected in the Saldanha
Bay area (South Africa) on the crystallographic texture of the shells, the content of 20 elements
in shells and 24 in the soft tissue of mussels was determined by neutron activation analysis. The
crystallographic texture of mussel shells was analyzed using time-of-flight neutron diffraction. The
wild mussels from open ocean site live in stressful natural conditions and contain higher amounts of
the majority of determined elements in comparison with mussels farmed in closed water areas with
anthropogenic loadings. The changes between the maximums of the same pole figures of the three
samples are in the range of variability identified for the genus Mytilus. The content of Cl, Sr, and I was
the highest in mussels from the open ocean site, which is reflected by the lowest mass/length ratio.
The determined crystallographic textures of mussels are relatively stable as shown in the analyzed
pole figures despite the concentrations of Na, Mg, Cl, Br, Sr, and I in shells, which significantly differ
for wild and farmed mussels. The stability of the crystallographic texture that we observed suggests
that it can be used as a reference model, where if a very different texture is determined, increased
attention to the ecological situation should be paid.
Description
CITATION: Nekhoroshkov, P. et al. 2021. Effect of the elemental content of shells of the bivalve mollusks (Mytilus galloprovincialis) from Saldanha Bay (South Africa) on their crystallographic texture. Biology, 10:1093, doi:10.3390/biology10111093.
The original publication is available at https://www.mdpi.com
The original publication is available at https://www.mdpi.com
Keywords
Neutrons -- Diffraction, Texture (Crystallography), Bivalve Molluscs, (Mytilus galloprovincialis) -- South Africa -- Saldanha Bay, Nuclear activation analysis, Neutron activation analysis, Trace elements
Citation
Nekhoroshkov, P. et al. 2021. Effect of the elemental content of shells of the bivalve mollusks (Mytilus galloprovincialis) from Saldanha Bay (South Africa) on their crystallographic texture. Biology, 10:1093, doi:10.3390/biology10111093.