Arsenic and Marine Organisms

The chapter provides an overview of marine arsenic research and arsenic concentrations in the various marine compartments. General chemical and analytical characteristics of the arsenic compounds of significance in marine arsenic studies are mentioned in the chapter followed by an outline of their occurrence, distribution, and biotransformation in marine samples. Workers in the area have applied different scientific disciplines to advance various aspects of the problem over the years. For example, progress in biological and biochemical studies of the uptake of arsenic by algae was made following chemical studies identifying the natural arsenic constituents of algae. Subsequent chemical synthesis of the arsenic compounds enabled toxicological assessment and further biotransformation studies to be carried out. The presence of both arsenobetaine and arsenosugars in the one organism, particularly one from such an isolated and selfcontained environment, might be taken as support for the view that arsenosugars are serving as precursors to arsenobetaine.