Burial, crawling and drifting behaviour of the bivalve Macomona liliana in response to common sediment contaminants

To investigate the effect of sediment contamination on the tellinid bivalve Macomona liliana, juvenile shellfish (about 1.3 mm long) were exposed to copper- and zinc-dosed sand, and sediments collected from several contaminated sites. The behavioural responses measured included burial rate, crawling and drifting. In copper-dosed sediment, a significant reduction in the number of shellfish burying after 10 min occurred at 25 mg Cu kg−1 (dry wt). After a 96-h exposure, shellfish crawled away from sediment with 10 mg Cu kg−1 (dry wt), and when a weak current was provided they left this 10 mg Cu kg−1 (dry wt) sediment by drifting. Zinc-dosed sediment slowed burial at 80 mg Zn kg−1 (dry wt), and stimulated crawling and drifting at 40 mg Zn kg−1 (dry wt). Some of the field-collected contaminated sediments slowed burial and stimulated drifting, but none affected crawling. It appears that juvenile drifting induced by sediment contamination could play a role in determining M. liliana distributions.