Zooxantella of Giant Clam as a sentinel organism to detect toxicity of lead

Abstract

Abstract Zooxantellae is living symbionts in the body of giant clams. This research was conducted to determine the sensitivity of the loss of zooxanthellae (bleaching) from the body of giant clam as a tool to detect metal pollutants. Juvenile of giant clam was exposed to lead in concentrations of 0, 0.004, 0.008, 0.016, 0.032 mg/l for 24 hours. Zooxanthellae density data were analyzed with parametric anova. The zooxanthellae densities at treatments 0, 0.004, 0.008.0.016 and 0.032 mg / respectively were 32,322,222.2, 32,488,888.89, 24,977,777.78, 17,676,666.67, and 14,542,222.22 cell/g mantle. Statistical analysis showed that there were significant differences in zooxanthellae densities of control with 0.016 and 0.032 mg/l treatments. There was no mortality of the juvenile of giant clams during the experiment. Therefore, it was concluded that the loss of zooxanthellae from giant clam’s body could be used as a sensitive biomarker to detect lead metal toxicity. Zooxanthella of Tridcana derasa is also considered as a sentinel organism that is potential for ecotoxicological studies.

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