DIFFERENCES IN METALLIC CONTENT BETWEEN MARINE VERTEBRATES AND INVERTEBRATES LIVING IN OCEANIC ISLANDS

Resumen

The metallic content in each class of organism varies in different ways, depending on metabolism, habitat behavior, and where it is found in the trophic network. In this study, 845 specimens of different types of  marine invertebrate and vertebrate organisms of the Canary Islands have been analyzed, of them the content of 20 metals and trace elements has been analyzed (Al, B, Ba, Ca, Cd, Co, Cr, Cu, Fe, K, Li, Mg, Mn, Mo, Na, Ni, Pb, Sr, V and Zn) in mg / kg. In the PCoA analyzes it is clearly seen how the invertebrate and vertebrate organisms are separated according to their metallic content, there being significant differences between these two groups in each of the trace elements and metals. with invertebrate species having the highest concentration in all metals and trace elements, may have a higher concentration of metals than vertebrates because they have a very fast growth, and with it a high metabolic rate that causes higher concentrations of the elements to bioaccumulate.