Trace elements in several species of crustaceans of Amami Island Group in Japan determined by activation analysis

Concentration levels of trace elements were determined in several speciesof subtropical crustaceans from Amami Islands in Japan in order to evaluatethe levels of specific accumulation of elements among species. Tissue samplesprepared from gill, muscle, hepatopancreas, and testis were irradiated forphoton activation analysis (PAA) and neutron activation analysis (NAA). ByPAA and NAA, eighteen elements could be determined. The levels of Br and Iwere extremely high in gills of spiny lobster and shovel-nosed lobster, respectively.A high concentration of Ag was found in the hepatopancreas of spiny lobsterscollected from the Amami Islands, while this element was not detected in thesame species collected from Toba. The results suggest that the distributionof the trace elements in different tissues and species varies according toboth species and environmental differences. To study the molecular forms ofthe elements in tissue, we separated fractions that contained protein-boundelements from the hepatopancreas of spiny lobsters by ultracentrifugationand gel filtration chromatography. Elution profiles of the chromatographysuggest that Cu, Fe, and Se were bound to proteins, while Ag was not.