Monitoring of Izmir Bay pollution (in Mytilus galloprovincialis Lamarck) by detecting micronucleus frequency

This study is carried out to explain the biological damage in the mussels (Mytilus galloprovincialis) exposed to the pollutants available in certain parts of İzmir Bay. With this aim, in mind, micronucleus test in haemolymph of the mussels (Mytilus galloprovincialis) collected from several stations to understand of İzmir Bay, whether there is pollution containing mutagenic/carcinogenic effects.The micronucleus test is performed in the haemolymph of mussels collected from three stations (Alaybey Tersane, Bostanlı, Pasaport) where is known highly polluted from several sources. As a result of the evaluations, the highest MN frequency is determined in Alaybey where there is shipyard.The highest value of the binucleus constititution is the demonstration of the damage of cytogenetics where is assessed in the samples taken from Bostanlı.Even though other nuclear abnormalities (lobbed nucleus, notched nucleus, nuclear buds etc.) were recorded during the microscopic analysis, they are not to taken into consideration because of their being in trivial numerical terms.In addition, no statistically important difference is noticed between the stations in comparison.As a result of this study it is possible to conclude that the micronucleus test on mussels gives accurate results in monitoring the pollution of marine especially the harbour pollution and related to this the micronucleus test can be used as a standard method in monitoring the pollution of coastal ecosystem.Key words: binucleus, genotoxicity, Micronucleus tests, Mytilus galloprovincialis, pollution.