COPPER UPTAKE BY THE SEA-ANEMONE ANEMONIA-VIRIDIS AND THE ROLE OF ZOOXANTHELLAE IN METAL REGULATION

Anemonia viridis (Forskäl) were collected from south-west Scotland and south-west England in October 1988. When exposed to 0.05 and 0.2mg 1-1 copper in sea water, anemones did not take up the metal in proportion to external concentrations. Results suggested that A. viridis regulated copper by expelling symbiotic algae (or zooxanthellae) which were shown to accumulate copper. The use of aposymbiotic (non-zooxanthellate) anemones in similar metal-uptake experiments indicated that other mechanisms may also be involved in metal regulation. Mucus was produced by A. viridis when the anemone was exposed to copper, and it is proposed that mucus may be involved in the regulation process. The implication of this work on the use of coelenterates as biological indicators of environmental metal levels is discussed. © 1990 Springer-Verlag.