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- Title
Crude oil toxicity to fiddler crabs (<italic>Uca longisignalis</italic> and <italic>Uca panacea</italic>) from the northern Gulf of Mexico: Impacts on bioturbation, oxidative stress, and histology of the hepatopancreas.
- Authors
Franco, Marco E.; Felgenhauer, Bruce E.; Klerks, Paul L.
- Abstract
Abstract: The intensive drilling and extraction of fossil fuels in the Gulf of Mexico result in a considerable risk of oil spills impacting its coastal ecosystems. Impacts are more likely to be far‐reaching if the oil affects ecosystem engineers like fiddler crabs, whose activities modify biogeochemical processes in the sediment. The present study investigated effects of oil on the fiddler crabs <italic>Uca longisignalis</italic> and <italic>Uca panacea</italic>, which are important as ecosystem engineers and as prey for a wide variety of species. The present study used mesocosms and microcosms to investigate the effects of crude oil on fiddler crab burrowing and to assess cellular and tissue damage by the oil. Fiddler crabs were exposed for periods of 5 or 10 d to oil concentrations up to 55 mg/cm2 on the sediment surface. Their burrowing was delayed, their burrows were smaller, and they transported less sediment in the presence of oil. The hepatopancreas had elevated levels of oxidative stress and a higher abundance of blister cells, which play a role in secretory processes. Interspecific differences were observed; most effects were strongest in <italic>U. panacea</italic>, though burrowing was more strongly affected in <italic>U. longisignalis</italic>. The present study demonstrates that crude oil is likely to impact fiddler crabs and many species that depend on them for their diet or for the ecological changes that result from their burrowing. <italic>Environ Toxicol Chem</italic> 2018;37:491–500. © 2017 SETAC
- Subjects
FIDDLER crabs; BIOTURBATION; OIL spills; FOSSIL fuels; MARINE sediments; OXIDATIVE stress
- Publication
Environmental Toxicology & Chemistry, 2018, Vol 37, Issue 2, p491
- ISSN
0730-7268
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1002/etc.3982