The endpoints promoted in the Environmental specimen banks (ESBs) have been mainly related to chemical approaches. Nevertheless, it has been agreed that both, chemical data and biological effects, should be taken into consideration for the correct assessment of the environmental health status.
The Biscay Bay Environmental Biospecimen Bank (BBEBB) was established in 2012 at the Plentzia Marine Station (PiE-UPV/EHU) in the challenging context of combining chemical and biological endpoints, with the aims of providing continuous updating of ecotoxicity profiles and including biological specimens of different target species such as marine molluscs and fishes, among others.
Tissues are archieved frozen or in paraffin embedded fixed blocks in order to perform histopathological and tissue level biomarker analysis onto stained tissue sections.
Stained slides are converted into histological high resolution (HR) images with the aid of slide scanner, and store them in silico in a protected server. This web platform allows the possibility of sharing and visualizing the histological sample remotely after requesting it from an on-line catalogue.
In addition, other kind of samples such as shells and otoliths are archieved as well.
What kind of organisms are available at BBEBB?
Bivalves:
-Mytilus edulis (North Atlantic transect monitoring: Svalbard, Tromso, Trondheim, Oslo (Norway), Edinburgh, Saint Andrews (Scotland), Reyjavik, Havfjördur (Iceland), Sylt, Bremenhaven (Germany).
-Mytilus gallprovincialis (Basque Coast monitoring, long term)
-Mytilus trossulus (Baltic Sea samples: Tvärminne (Finland) and Rostock (Germany).
-Xenostrobus securis (Basque Coast samples)
-Crassostrea rizophorae (Caribbean Sea samples): Nicaragua
-Crassostrea gigas (Basque and France coast samples)
Fishes:
-Merluccious merluccious (Basque Coast monitoring samples)
-Engraulis encrassicolus (Basque Coast monitoring samples)
-Solea sp (Basque Coast monitoring, long term)
-Chelon labrosus (Basque Coast monitoring, long term)
-Mullus barbatus (Mediterranean sea monitoring samples)
-Gadus morhua (North Atlantic samples)
Stranded marine mammals from the Basque Coast:
-Delphinus delphis
-Globicephala melas
-Phocoena phocoena
-Stenella coeruleoalba
-Tursiops truncatus,
-Ziphius cavirostris,
-Kogia breviceps
-Balaenoptera physalus
Unfortunately, the on-line catalogue is still under construction. For more detailed info about samples and their availability, please do not hesitate in contacting us via the following email address: xabier.lecube@ehu.eus