Mercury and cadmium in striped dolphins (Stenella coeruleoalba) stranded along the Southern Tyrrhenian and Western Ionian coasts

PDF (English)
Publicado: Sep 3, 2020
DOI: https://doi.org/10.12681/mms.22204
MAURO ESPOSITO
Istituto Zooprofilattico Sperimentale del Mezzogiorno, Via Salute, 2 - Portici, Italy
DANIELA CAPOZZO
Istituto Zooprofilattico Sperimentale del Mezzogiorno, Via Salute, 2 - Portici, Italy
DONATO SANSONE
Istituto Zooprofilattico Sperimentale del Mezzogiorno, Via Salute, 2 - Portici, Italy
GIUSEPPE LUCIFORA
Istituto Zooprofilattico Sperimentale del Mezzogiorno, Via Salute, 2 - Portici, Italy
RAFFAELLA LA NUCARA
Istituto Zooprofilattico Sperimentale del Mezzogiorno, Via Salute, 2 - Portici, Italy
GIUSEPPE PICAZIO
Istituto Zooprofilattico Sperimentale del Mezzogiorno, Via Salute, 2 - Portici, Italy
CATERINA RIVERSO
Istituto Zooprofilattico Sperimentale del Mezzogiorno, Via Salute, 2 - Portici, Italy
PASQUALE GALLO
Istituto Zooprofilattico Sperimentale del Mezzogiorno, Via Salute, 2 - Portici, Italy
Resumen

Pollution by heavy metals is becoming a serious threat to food safety and the health of humans and marine animals in many areas,
including the Mediterranean Sea. Cadmium and mercury are among the most toxic of these metals. Their presence in various
environmental compartments, which is partly due to human activity, inevitably leads to their bioaccumulation in the food chain.
In this study, levels of cadmium and mercury were determined by means of Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometry in liver,
kidney and muscle tissues of specimens the dolphinid Stenella coeruleoalba stranded at various locations in coastal areas of the
Tyrrhenian and Ionian Sea in Southern Italy from 2015 to 2018.
The data were compared with those reported for other Mediterranean locations. Correlations between biometric data (body
length, weight and gender) and cadmium and mercury concentrations in tissue samples from these specimens were statistically
analyzed in order to investigate the risk that these contaminants may pose to the health of delphinids.
Examination of the pattern of contaminants revealed a significantly high concentration of mercury in all the matrices analyzed
(liver, kidney and muscle tissue). By contrast, elevated concentrations of cadmium were found only in liver (range: 0.005 - 8.95
mg/kg w.w.) and kidney (range: 0.005 - 34.1 mg/kg w.w.), owing to the accumulator role of these organs during long-term exposure.

Article Details
  • Sección
  • Research Article

Authors who publish with this journal agree to the following terms:

  1. Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgement of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal.
  2. Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g. post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.
  3. Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (preferably in institutional repositories or on their website) prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work (See The Effect of Open Access).
Descargas
Los datos de descargas todavía no están disponibles.
Citas
Aguilar, A., Borrell, A., 1994. Abnormally high polychlorinated biphenyl levels in striped dolphins (Stenella coeruleoalba) affected by the 1990-1992 Mediterranean epizootic. Science of Total Environment, 154, 237-247.
Aguiar dos Santos, R., Haimovici, M., 2001. Cephalopods in the diet of marine mammals stranded or incidentally caught along southeastern and southern Brazil. Fisheries Research 52, 99-112.
Alimba, C.G., Faggio, C., 2019. Microplastics in the marine environment: Current trends in environmental. Environmental Toxicology and Pharmacology, 68, 61-74.
Augier, H., Park, W.K., Ronneau, C., 1993. Mercury contamination of the striped dolphin Stenella coeruleoalba Meyen from the French Mediterranean coasts. Marine Pollution Bulletin, 26, Issue 6, June , 306-311.
Baptista, G., Kehrig, H.A., Di Beneditto, A.P., Hauser-Davis, R.A., Almeida, M.G. et al., 2016. Mercury, selenium and stable isotopes in four small cetaceans from the Southeastern Brazilian coast: Influence of feeding strategy. Environmental Pollution , 218, 1298-1307.
Bellante, A., Sprovieri, M., Buscaino, G., Buffa, G., Di Stefano, V. et al., 2011. Stranded cetaceans as indicators of mercury pollution in the Mediterranean Sea. Italian Journal of Zoology , 79, 151-160.
Bellante, A., Sprovieri, M., Buscaino, G., Buffa, G., Di Stefano, V. et al., 2012. Distribution of Cd and as in organs and tissues of four marine mammal species stranded along the Italian coasts. Journal of Environmental Monitoring, 14, 2382-2391.
Borrell, A., Aguilar, A., Tornero, V., Drago, M., 2014. Concentrations of mercury in tissues of striped dolphins suggest decline of pollution in Mediterranean open waters. Chemosphere, 107, 319-323.
Bradl, H.B., 2005. Heavy Metals in the Environment: Origin, Interaction and Remediation. Interface Science and Technology, 6, 1-269.
Brennecke, D., Duarte, B., Paiva, F., Caçador, I., Canning- Clode, J., 2016. Microplastics as vector for heavy metal contamination from the marine environment. Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science, 178, 189-195.
Capelli, R., Drava, G., De Pellegrini, R., Minganti, V., Poggi, R., 2000. Study of trace elements in organs and tissues of striped dolphins (Stenella coeruleoalba) found dead along the Ligurian coasts (Italy). Advances in Environmental Research, 4 (1), 31-42.
Cardellicchio, N., Giandomenico, S., Ragone, P., Di Leo, A., 2000. Tissue distribution of metals in striped dolphins (Stenella coeruleoalba) from the Apulian coasts, Southern Italy. Marine Environmental Research, 49 (1), 55-66.
Cardellicchio, N., Decataldo, A., Di Leo, A., Misino, A., 2002. Accumulation and tissue distribution of mercury and selenium in striped dolphins (Stenella coeruleoalba) from the Mediterranean Sea (southern Italy). Environmental Pollution, 116, 265-271.
Carlini, R., De Francesco, M. C., Della Libera, S., 2014, Biometric measures indicating sexual dimorphism in Stenella coeruleoalba (Meyen, 1833) (Delphinidae) in the North-central Tyrrhenian Sea. Aquatic Mammals, 40, 59-68.
Casalone, C., Mazzario, S., Pautasso, A., Di Guardo, G., Di Nocera, F. et al. 2014. Cetacean strandings in Italy: An unusual mortality event along the Tyrrhenian Sea coast in 2013. Diseases of Aquatic Organisms, 109, 81-86.
Chen, Q., Zhang, H., Allgeier, A., Zhou, Q., Ouellet, J.D. et al., 2019. Marine microplastics bound dioxin-like chemicals: Model explanation and risk assessment. Journal of Hazardous Materials, 364, 82-90.
Coll, M., Piroddi, C., Albouy, C., Ben Rais Lasram, F., Cheung, W.W.L. et al., 2012. The Mediterranean Sea under siege: spatial overlap between marine biodiversity, cumulative threats and marine reserves. Global Ecology and Biogeography, 21, 465-480.
Das, K., Debacker, V., Bouquegneau, J.M., 2000. Metallothioneins in marine mammals. Cellular and Molecular Biology, 46 (2), 283-94. Eisler, R., 1985.
Cadmium Hazards to Fish, Wildlife, And Invertebrates: A Synoptic Review. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Biological Report 85 (1.2), Contaminant Hazard Reviews Report No. 2. 46 pp.
Endo, T., Haraguchi, K., Cipriano, F., Simmonds, M.P., Sakata, M., 2004. Contamination by mercury and cadmium in the cetacean products from Japanese market. Chemosphere, 54, Issue 11, 1653-1662.
Esposito, M., De Roma, A., La Nucara, R., Picazio, G., Gallo, P., 2018. Total mercury content in commercial swordfish (Xiphias gladius) from different FAO fishing areas. Chemosphere, 197, 14-19.
Esposito, M., De Roma, A., Sansone, D., Capozzo, D., Iaccarino, D. et al., 2020. Non-essential toxic element (Cd, As, Hg and Pb) levels in muscle, liver and kidney of loggerhead sea turtles (Caretta caretta) stranded along the Southwestern coasts of Tyrrhenian sea. Comparative Biochemistry and Physiology, Part C, 231, 108275.
Fielding, R., Evans, D.W., 2014. Mercury in Caribbean dolphins (Stenella longirostris and Stenella frontalis) caught for human consumption off St. Vincent, West Indies. Marine Pollution Bulletin, 89, 30-34.
Fossi, M.C., Marsili, L., Lauriano, G., Fortuna, C., Canese, S. et al., 2004. Assessment of toxicological status of a SW Mediterranean segment population of striped dolphin (Stenella coeruleoalba) using skin biopsy. Marine Environmental Research, 58, 269-274.
Frederick, I., Archer, II., 2018. Striped Dolphin: Stenella coeruleoalba. Encyclopedia of Marine Mammals (Third Edition), 954-956.
Jarup, L., Åkesson, A., 2009. Current status of cadmium as an environmental health problem. Toxicology and Applied Pharmacology, 238, 201-208.
Karadirek, I.E., Aktas, K., Topkaya, B., 2019. Environmental Pollution of the Mediterranean Sea: Evaluation of Research Activities in the Mediterranean Sea Countries. Fresenius Environmental Bulletin 28 (2), 867-872.
Kershaw, J. L., Hall, A.J., 2019. Mercury in cetaceans: Exposure, bioaccumulation and toxicity. Science of The Total Environment, 694, 2019, 133683.
Law, R., Jones, B., Baker, J., Kennedy, S., Milne, R. et al., 1992. Trace metals in the livers of marine mammals from the Welsh coast and the Irish Sea. Marine Pollution Bulletin, 24 (6), 296-304.
Leonzio, C., Focardi, S., Fossi, C., 1992. Heavy metals and selenium in stranded dolphins of the Northern Tyrrhenian (NW Mediterranean). Science of The Total Environment, 119, 1, 77-84.
Martínez-Lopez, E., Penalver, J., Escrina, A., Lara, L., Gens, M.J. et al., 2019. Trace metals in striped dolphins (Stenella coeruleoalba) stranded along the Murcia coastline, Mediterranean Sea, during the period 2009-2015. Chemosphere, 229, 580-588.
Monaci, F., Borrel, A., Leonzio, C., Marsili, L., Calzada, N., 1998. Trace elements in striped dolphins (Stenella coeruleoalba) from the western Mediterranean. Environmental Pollution, 99, 61-68.
Napper, I.E., Richard, C., Thompson, R.C., 2019. Marine Plastic Pollution: Other Than Microplastic. Waste (Second Edition) A Handbook for Management. Cap. 2, 425-442
Pacyna, E.G., Pacyna, J.M., Sundseth, K., Munthe, J., Kindbom, K. et al., 2010. Global emission of mercury to the atmosphere from anthropogenic sources in 2005 and projections to 2020. Atmos. Environ. 44, 2487-2499.
Pautasso, A., Iulini, B., Grattarola, C., Giorda, F., Goria, M. et al., 2019 Novel dolphin morbillivirus (DMV) outbreak among Mediterranean striped dolphins Stenella coeruleoalba in Italian waters. Diseases of aquatic organisms, 24, 132 (3), 215-220.
Pintore, M.D., Mignone, W., Di Guardo, G., Mazzariol, S., Ballardini, M., et al., 2018. Neuropathologic findings in cetaceans stranded in Italy (2002-14). Journal Wild Diseases, 54 (2), 295-303.
Pompe-Gotal, J., Srebocan, E., Gomercic, H., Prevendar Crnic, A., 2009. Mercury concentrations in the tissues of bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) and striped dolphins (Stenella coeruloalba) stranded on the Croatian Adriatic coast. Veterinarni Medicina, 54, (12), 598-604.
Profeta, F., Di Francesco, C.E., Marsilio, F., Mignone, W., Di Nocera, F. et al., 2015. Retrospective seroepidemiological investigations against Morbillivirus, Toxoplasma gondii and Brucella spp. in cetaceans stranded along the Italian coastline (1998-2014). Research in Veterinary Science, Aug;101, 89-92.
Reif, J.S., Schaefer, A.M., Bossart, G.D., 2015. Atlantic bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) as a sentinel for exposure to mercury in humans: closing the loop. Veterinary Science, 2, 407-422.
Rojo-Nieto, E., Fernandez-Maldonado, C., 2017. Assessing trace elements in striped dolphins from the Strait of Gibraltar: Clues to link the bioaccumulation in the westernmost Mediterranean Sea area and nearest Atlantic Ocean. Chemosphere, 170, 41-50.
Shoham-Frider, E. Goffman, O., Harlavan Y., Kress, N., Morick, D. et al., 2016. Trace elements in striped dolphins (Stenella coeruleoalba) from the Eastern Mediterranean: A 10-years perspective. Marine Pollution Bulletin, 109 (1), 624-632.
Stavros, H.C., Stolen, M., Durden, W.N., McFee, W., Bossart, G.D. et al., 2011. Correlation and toxicological inference of trace elements in tissues from stranded and free-ranging bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus). Chemosphere, 82 (11), 1649-61.
Šuran, J., Đuras, M., Gomerčić, T., Bilandžić, N., Prevendar Crnić, A., 2015. Cadmium and lead concentrations in the tissues of bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) and striped dolphins (Stenella coeruleoalba) stranded on the Croatian Adriatic coast. Veterinarski Arhiv, 85 (6), 677-688.