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The unusual mineral vaterite in shells of the freshwater bivalve Corbicula fluminea from the UK

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Abstract

Asian clams (Corbicula fluminea) with abnormally thickened shell valves were found in four rivers in the UK (Rivers Yare, Waveney, Thames and New Bedford River). The material making up these malformations was the rare calcium carbonate polymorph vaterite. Vaterite is seldom found in the natural environment because it is less stable than the other calcium carbonate polymorphs (aragonite and calcite). In the few reported cases of vaterite formation in molluscs, it is usually related to unusual biomineralisation events such as shell regeneration, pearls and initial stages of shell formation. We compared two populations from the Rivers Yare and Waveney in the Norfolk Broads, UK, one (River Waveney) displaying dominantly the normal Corbicula shell form with aragonitic shells. In the River Yare population, all individuals sampled had shell deformations to different extents. These deformations were apparent as bulges on the inside of the ventral shell margin. X-ray diffraction confirmed that the shell material in the bulges of recently collected clams was vaterite. Other parts of the deformed shells were aragonitic. The shell deformations alter the shell morphology, leading to higher and wider shells. The shell microstructure is fibrous in the vateritic parts and crossed-lamellar in the aragonitic parts of deformed or non-deformed shells. The cause for the malformations is probably a disrupted biomineralisation process in the bivalves. Fossil Corbicula specimens from the late Pleistocene had similar deformations, suggesting that this is not a response to anthropogenic causes, such as pollution.

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Acknowledgements

The authors want to thank the staff from the Broads Authority, especially Dr. Dan Hoare, for their invaluable support during the sampling period. We are also very grateful to Philine zu Ermgassen, Dr. Paul Elliott, Derek Howlett, Roy Baker and Robert Winkler who helped with the collection of the specimens and Max Frenzel who helped search the fossil collections. Dr. John Taylor facilitated the use of the collections at the Natural History Museum (London). We want to thank Tony Abrahams for running the XRD samples and Dudley Simons for the beautiful photographs used in Fig. 1. Four anonymous reviewers greatly helped to improve the manuscript. Nicole Spann was supported by Ph.D. studentships from the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council, the Cambridge European Trust and the Balfour Fund. The experiments reported in this manuscript comply with the laws of the UK.

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The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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  1. Department of Zoology, University of Cambridge, Downing Street, Cambridge, CB2 3EJ, UK

    Nicole Spann & David C. Aldridge

  2. Department of Earth Sciences, University of Cambridge, Downing Street, Cambridge, CB2 3EQ, UK

    Elizabeth M. Harper

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  1. Nicole Spann
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Spann, N., Harper, E.M. & Aldridge, D.C. The unusual mineral vaterite in shells of the freshwater bivalve Corbicula fluminea from the UK. Naturwissenschaften 97, 743–751 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00114-010-0692-9

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