Tissue Accumulation and the Effects of Long-Term Dietary Copper Contamination on Osmoregulation in the Mudflat Fiddler Crab Minuca rapax (Crustacea, Ocypodidae)

We examined copper accumulation in the hemolymph, gills and hepatopancreas, and hemolymph osmolality, Na⁺ and Cl⁻ concentrations, together with gill Na⁺/K⁺-ATPase and carbonic anhydrase activities, after dietary copper delivery (0, 100 or 500 Cu µg g⁻¹) for 12 days in a fiddler crab, Minuca rapax. In contaminated crabs, copper concentration decreased in the hemolymph and hepatopancreas, but increased in the gills. Hemolymph osmolality and gill Na⁺/K⁺-ATPase activity increased while hemolymph [Na⁺] and [Cl⁻] and gill carbonic anhydrase activity decreased. Excretion likely accounts for the decreased hemolymph and hepatopancreas copper titers. Dietary copper clearly affected osmoregulatory ability and hemolymph Na⁺ and Cl⁻ regulation in M. rapax. Gill copper accumulation decreased carbonic anhydrase activity, suggesting that dietary copper affects acid–base balance. Elevated gill Na⁺/K⁺-ATPase activity appears to compensate for the ion-regulatory disturbance. These effects of dietary copper illustrate likely impacts on semi-terrestrial species that feed on metal-contaminated sediments.