Heavy metals of inshore benthic invertebrates from the Barents Sea

To assess metals in biota of the Barents Sea, information is presented on concentrations of Cu, Cd, Ni, Pb and Zn in the marine inshore benthic invertebrates Gammarus oceanicus, Littorina rudis, Nucella lapillus, Mytilus edulis and Arenicola marina collected in summer 1994. For geographical comparisons, the metal content to body size relationship was taken into account due to the different body sizes found at the localities investigated. In general, our data provide further evidence for the cadmium anomaly in invertebrates from polar waters which has been frequently discussed in the literature, with Cd concentrations reaching 1 mg x kg(-1) dry wt in G. oceanicus, 7 mg x kg(-1) in L. rudis and 24 mg x kg(-1) in N. lapillus. In contrast, our results obtained for Cd in M. edulis and A. marina are largely within a world-wide reported range (1-2 and 0.2-0.9 mg x kg(-1), respectively). Although some severe Ni emissions in the Kola region (Russia) mainly from nickel smelters have been reported, we do not find indications of an enhanced Ni availability in the marine biota studied compared to other areas