Gastropods shell shape has been proposed as a good indicator of environmental changes while geometric morphometric (GM) is a powerful tool to detect such changes. Shell shape pattern in adults of the marine gastropod Buccinanops deformis was proved to be correlated with imposex incidence and maritime traffic in populations of Patagonia. We explore through GM the shell shape variation of B. deformis intracapsular embryos in pre-hatching stages of development, in two populations with contrasting maritime traffic and imposex incidence. Embryonic shell shape from polluted and unpolluted areas was significantly different in apex, lateral, aperture and siphonal channel. The same shell shape pattern was observed previously in B. deformis adult specimens. Our results demonstrate that the embryonic shell shape is an early biomarker that could be used as a tool to detect the response to environmental pollution studying abundant egg capsules laid in the field but protecting reproductive adults.

腹足纲动物的壳形被认为是环境变化的良好指标，而几何形态学（GM）是检测此类变化的有力工具。事实证明，在巴塔哥尼亚人群中，腹足纲Buccinanopsdistis的成虫的壳状形态与发病率和海上交通量有关。我们通过转基因动物探索了在孵化前发育阶段的变形双歧杆菌囊内胚的壳形变化，这两个种群的海上交通和乘员事故形成了鲜明对比。受污染和未受污染区域的胚壳形状在根尖，侧向，孔和虹吸通道中显着不同。先前在变形双歧杆菌中观察到相同的壳形图案成人标本。我们的结果表明，胚壳的形状是一种早期的生物标记，可以通过研究在田间放置的大量卵囊来保护环境，从而保护环境，从而保护成年成年。