On the excretion of zinc by the shore crabCarcinus maenas(L.)

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Abstract
The shore crab Carcinus maenas (L.) does not excrete zinc taken up and accumulated when exposed to 100 µg Zn l−1, but does excrete a proportion (c. 70%) of the zinc taken up from 3162 µg Zn l−1 over 21 days. Ofthe zinc excreted at this exposure, only 4% is excreted in the urine. There was a linear relationship between zinc concentrations in urine and blood. Food was found to be an important Zn source to the crab, and excretion ofZn accumulated from food again depended on dose. None of a c. 25 µg Zn dose in food was excreted in 12 days; of 210 µg absorbed from a 250 µg Zn dose in a meal 46% was retained after 12 days, and 113 µg was excreted (22% in the faeces, 1% in the urine and 77% probably via the gills). C. maenas lost c. 20% of the body zinc content with the moult, even after withdrawal into the soft tissues of some of the zinc there accumulated (both from food and water).