mposex incidence in the sandy beach snail Hastula cinerea reveals continued and widespread tributyltin contamination after its international ba

Tributyltin (TBT) contamination is a prominent issue in coastal areas. However, TBT contamination in sandy beaches, which dominate the seascape of some regions, is not well understood. Imposex monitoring in beach gastropods may help widen the spatial coverage of surveillance efforts to enforce TBT ban regulations. In this study, we assessed imposex occurrence in the beach snail Hastula cinerea from August 2019 to February 2020 in southeastern Brazil. Imposex was observed in 14 of the 23 sampled beaches, and the highest imposex levels were recorded at beaches with nautical activities, including a beach located in a no-take protected insular area. Imposex was absent in the beaches that were consistently exposed to wave energy and less subjected to boating activities. The imposex incidence in H. cinerea after 11 years of the TBT international ban suggests persistent and widespread TBT contamination in the studied beaches, a phenomenon that should be widely assessed. (C) 2021 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. (AU)