The Tahitian Black Pearl is a natural gem born of the oyster. We now know that the oyster acts as a sentinel of marine pollution thanks to a French company, based in Arcachon to be precise.
A simple movement of its valve… and the oyster becomes a lookout for marine pollution, in the Arctic or the Gulf, thanks to the work of a small laboratory in Arcachon, on the Gironde coast.
The bivalve mollusc "is very well equipped to taste the quality of the water it filters all day long" and to react to the slightest hydrocarbon leak from offshore platforms or refineries in France's estuaries, Jean-Charles Massabuau, research director at the French National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS), told AFP. He has been working on the subject since 2011.
He was the first to demonstrate that oysters react to sound, and studied, with the University of Bordeaux, how they can be used as a "water biosensor". molluSCAN is the name of the company co-founded by Mr Jean-Charles Massabuau.
The "valvometric method" makes it possible to measure the opening and closing cycles of the oyster's valves in near real time. The aim: to determine the animal's state of health remotely in order to produce an indicator of water quality.
The oyster is the ideal test subject. Being sedentary, it can easily be monitored in real time in its natural habitat, "and has nothing else to do but pick up ambient noise and variations in temperature or light", according to the scientist. Its hypersensitivity makes it an excellent early-warning system, well before an oil spill occurs.
Hyperactivity of the valves is a first warning sign. As in humans, stress can alter the rhythms of sleep, reproduction and even appetite.
Since its launch last spring, the molluSCAN teams have secured two regular customers and are in talks with three others; they also have more than a dozen test installations across Europe. The company hopes that municipalities and natural resource authorities will invest in this technology, a completely natural, harmless and minimally invasive way to monitor their waterways.
Mr Jean-Charles Massabuau's goal is well on the way to being achieved, namely "for the sea to be cleaner, and industry too."