Biomonitoring of coastal regions of São Paulo State, Brazil, using mussels Perna perna

The marine environment is constantly affected by anthropic actions, with causes consequent degradation of the waters and marine biota by various discharges of xenobiotics. In the present study, the focus was the study of a region of the marine coast of the State of São Paulo (city of Santos), which is one of the most industrialized parts of Brazil and suffers also from a strong impact of domestic effluents. The mussel Perna perna , very abundant in the coast of the State of São Paulo, Brazil, was selected as the biomonitoring organism for the determination of inorganic elements and a passive biomonitoring was performed. The organisms were collected at two sites in São Paulo State coast: Cocanha beach in Caraguatatuba (mussel farm) and Santos Bay (Itaipu and Palmas). Seasonally, the Perna perna were collected between September/08 and July/09 in each study sites. After removal and sample preparation, the elements As, Co, Cr, Fe, Se and Zn were determined by instrumental neutron activation analysis (INAA) and Cd, Pb and Hg were determined by atomic absorption spectroscopy (AAS) in this organism.