Trace metals in skeletal calcite of echinoderms from the Barents Sea.

This study investigates the skeletal accumulation of selected elements (Al, Ag, As, Ca, Co, Cr, Cu, Fe, Hg, K, Mg, Mn, Na, Pb, Sr, Zn) in echinoderms inhabiting Barents Sea, an area impacted by human activities from northern Norway and Kola Peninsula, known sources of metal pollution. The primary aim was to have insight whether metals incorporation in the skeleton of Arctic echinoderms is regulated physiologically by the organism or influenced by abiotic environmental conditions (expressed as distance from the source of metal pollution). Metal concentrations were analysed in 17 species from four echinoderm classes: Asteroidea, Ophiuroidea, Crinoidea and Echinoidea.