Evaluation of Manganese Retention in the Crustacean Tissue and its Implications for Chitin Product and Applications

According to a principle of bio-economy, natural resources are the basis of numerous researches. Crustaceans are organisms with great biological diversity and importance in aquatic ecosystems, serving as bioindicators of the state of the environmental health. In addition to this, crustaceans represent a major source of obtaining chitin and chitosan. This study aims to evaluate the accumulation and storage of manganese ions, in four common species from the Romanian waters, Carcinus mediterraneus, Pachygrapsus marmoratus, Palaemon elegans, Euxinia maeotica. The purpose of the analysis is to obtain information upon the different accumulation of manganese, in soft structures or in exoskeleton, dependent of the biology of the species. This study also aims to understand the factors that ensure the efficiency of the extraction process of chitin from marine waste including different species of crustaceans. The obtained results highlighted that two species from sandy habitat (E. maeotica and C. mediterraneus) accumulate important amounts of manganese (80-100$\mu $g/g).