Endoscope application for the mussel watch program of marine pollution monitoring

As a trial for the complete establishment of mussel watch program, it was shown that the ciliary stroke of Mytilus edulis can be used as an indicator of its bioaccumulation of pollutants from sea water whenit was measured by use of a high function OES endoscope. This is reasonable because the ciliary strokes result in the intake of phytoplankton by raising the constant water current along the cilia from an inhalant siphon transported to the mouth. The ciliary strokes showed anevident diel fluctuation with the maximal activity during the night.The contribution of mucus excretion was evident for efficient filter-feeding. The ciliary stroke and the mucus excretion were activated almost simultaneously showing similar diel fluctuation while filter-feeding. The maximal ciliary stroke was observed at 20 deg. C in salt solution from 3.0 to 4.0% salinities. The stroke follows the Arrheniusequation in the temperature range from 5 to 30 deg. C with a break at around 20 deg. C when the experiment was performed with salt solution between 1.0 to 3.3% salinities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]