A semi-quantitative RT-PCR protocol was developed to directly evaluate metallothionein (MT) mRNA expression in different tissues of mangrove oysters (Crassostrea rhizophorae), using beta-Actin (ACT) as a normalizing gene. Clones with high degree of identity from partial coding sequences were obtained for both MT and ACT. Although not statistically significant, high relative accumulation of MT mRNA was observed in the digestive gland (DGG), but not in the gills, from samples collected from both control and contaminated sites. Nevertheless, MT expression was not comparable to the high levels of metal in the contaminated oysters. Results indicate that the variation in relative MT mRNA levels from different samples of the same site could be due to multiple gene copies or different MT isoform induction.