Chemical transformation and flux of different forms of arsenic in the carb Carcinusmaenas

The amount of ingested arsenic assimilated and eliminated by the crab appeared to depend on chemical form of arsenic present in the food. Arsenic-74 was translocated rapidly with a high percentage located in hepatopancreas and exoskeleton. The speciation of radioarsenic determined by sequential extraction of experimental food, feces, muscle and hepatopancreas showed that there is no efficient mechanism within the crab which can covert lipid and water soluble arsenic to arsenite and residual arsenic or vice-versa. The biological mechanism in crab selectively and effectively excretes soluble form of arsenite and residual arsenic much more readily than organic arsenic.