TROPHIC TRANSFER OF CONTAMINANTS FROM ORGANISMS LIVING BY CHROMATED-COPPER-ARSENATE (CCA)-TREATED WOOD TO THEIR PREDATORS

Oysters, Crassostrea virginica (Gmelin), collected from a residential canal lined with wood treated with chromated copper arsenate (CCA) had elevated levels of the metals in their tissues. Snails, Thais (Stramonita) haemastoma floridana (Conrad), fed the oysters gradually ate less than snails fed reference oysters, and grew less over an 8-wk period. Snails that ate the canal oysters increased their body burden of copper about 4-fold over the 8 weeks, and had tissue concentrations comparable to field-collected snails gathered from a CCA bulkhead in open water. Thais specimens were not found within the canal. Juvenile fish (Leiostomus xanthurus Lacepede and Lagodon rhomboides Linn.) were fed worms (primarily Neanthes succinea Frey and Leuckart) collected from sediments adjacent to a CCA bulkhead facing open water. These worms had elevated concentrations of the metals compared to worms from a reference site. Over a 1-month period, there was a non-significant trend of lower survival of fish fed contaminated worms compared to those fed reference worms. There was no significant difference in growth. Body burdens of these fish were not significantly elevated by this exposure, although field-collected fish from inside the canal had significantly higher concentrations of Cu and As than did fish from the reference site.