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Nickel (Ni) is an essential metal but not a well-studied metal in gastropods. In this study, Nerita lineata snails were collected from 20 sites along the western coast of Peninsular Malaysia from December 2005 to December 2010. The concentrations of Ni were determined in the total soft tissues, opercula and shells of the snails. Different patterns of Ni distribution were found in different tissues (shells, opercula and soft tissues) as well as spatial differences and distributions. This finding showed that the distributions of Ni in the shells and total soft tissues of N. lineata were significantly different, and this could be due to the different rates of Ni accumulation, excretion and sequestration. Since N. lineata can be abundantly found in rocky shores, below jetties and mangrove trees along the intertidal areas of the west coast of Peninsular Malaysia and it can show the ability to accumulate Ni, the snails can therefore act as potential biomonitors of Ni pollution in the western coast of Peninsular Malaysia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Snails, Nerita lineata, were collected from 15 sites along the west intertidal area of Peninsular Malaysia from December 2005 until April 2006. The concentrations of heavy metals (Cd, Cu, Pb, and Zn) were determined in the total soft tissues, operculums, and shells of the snails. Different patterns of heavy metal distributions were found in the different tissues (shell, operculums, and soft tissues) as well as spatial variations of heavy metal concentrations in the snails. This shows that the distribution of metals in the shells and the total soft tissues of N. lineata were not similar which could be due to different rates of metal accumulation, excretion, and sequestration. Since N. lineata is abundant on the rocky shores, below jetties and mangrove trees along the west intertidal area of Peninsular Malaysia and accumulate heavy metals, the snails are therefore potential biomonitors of heavy metal contamination for the west intertidal area of Peninsular Malaysia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The concentrations of Cd, Cu, Pb, Zn, Ni and Fe were determined in the gastropod Nerita lineata collected from 15 sites in the west intertidal area of Peninsular Malaysia (shell length 11.5–33.8 mm). The results of the present study showed that metal concentrations in the shells, opercula and soft tissues of N. lineata were distributed differently at different sampling sites. The mean concentrations (μg/g dry weight) of Cd, Cu, Fe, Ni, Pb and Zn in the samples were 2.99, 6.38, 35.05, 23.34, 48.22 and 16.59 in the opercula, 3.15, 5.59, 49.78, 24.18, 48.86 and 7.86 in the shells and 1.03, 2.65, 566.63, 5.85, 92.72 and 92.75 in the soft tissues. All the populations of N. lineata showed similar trends in the accumulation of Cd, Ni and Pb which decreased as follows: shell > operculum > soft tissue, Cu and Zn deceased in the order: soft tissue > operculum > shell and Fe in the order: soft tissue >shell > operculum. In general, higher concentrations of metals were recorded in samples collected from the stations closed to the anthropogenic sites. In particular, snail samples collected from KSAyam accumulated higher Pb concentrations when compared to other sites in the opercula, shells and soft tissues. This may indicate high bioavailability and contamination via Pb of the study site. The snail N. lineata is therefore suggested as a potential biomonitor of bioavailability and contamination of heavy metal in general and Pb in particular for the tropical intertidal area of Peninsular Malaysia. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]