Imposex Study on Thais tuberosa from Port and Non-Port Areas along the West Coast of Peninsular Malaysia

Imposex was found to occur among thais tuberosa snails collected from eight locations, consisting of port and non-port areas, along the west coast of peninsular malaysia. all (100%) female individuals of this species were found to have male sexual characteristics (imposex) at various stages. the highest discovered imposex level was stage 5 with the relative penis length index (rpli) of 56.35%; this was found in samples collected from lumut port (alp; an area with high shipping and boating activities). on the other hand, samples collected from areas with lower maritime activities were observed to have moderate imposex stages (stage 3 and stage 2). samples from an isolated area of ntp were recorded to have stage 1 imposex. these results demonstrate the potential influence of maritime activities (a higher leachate of tributyltin (tbt)) on the degree of imposex in t. tuberose individuals.