On exposure of sea urchins to AgNPs at a concentration
of 0.3 mg/L for 51 h, agglomerated AgNPs were observed
within them. XANES results show that the agglomerated
AgNPs might be oxidized and complexed with S and O/N
ligands. FTIR measurements confirm the presence of excess
sulphur in nanoparticle exposed sea urchins, which is likely
to be due to biological processes. In addition, FTIR results
illustrate that there is calcite loss from the skeleton of sea
urchins, which can be attributed to the inhibition of calcite
formation in the presence of AgNPs.