Biological threats and environmental pollutants, a lethal mixture for mediterranean cetaceans?. (September 2014)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Lauriano, Giancarlo; Di Guardo, Giovanni; Marsili, Letizia; Maltese, Silvia; Fossi, Maria Cristina
• Is Part Of: Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom. Volume 94:Number 6(2014:Sep.)
• Page Start: 1221
• Page End: 1225
• Publication Date: 2014-09
• Subjects: Biology -- Periodicals; Marine biology -- Periodicals; 578.77
• DOI: 10.1017/S0025315413000714
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0025-3154

Abstract

<abstract abstract-type="normal"> <title> <x content-type="archive" xml:space="preserve">Abstract</x> </title> <p>The possible existence of any cause–effect relationships between the concentrations of organochlorines (OCs) and the presence of <italic>Morbillivirus</italic> and <italic>Toxoplasma gondii</italic> infections was investigated in both free-living and stranded specimens of <italic>Stenella coeruleoalba</italic>, <italic>Tursiops truncatus</italic>, <italic>Globicephala melas</italic>, <italic>Balaenoptera physalus</italic> and <italic>Physeter macrocephalus</italic> from the Mediterranean Sea. High blubber concentrations of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (DDT) were recorded in free-ranging <italic>G. melas</italic>. Tissue concentrations of PCBs and DDT in stranded <italic>T. truncatus</italic> (367 lipid weight (l.w.) and 143.7 mg/kg l.w., respectively) and <italic>S. coeruleoalba</italic> (139.9 l.w.; 92.9 mg/kg l.w.) were beyond the PCB threshold value for the appearance of adverse effects in marine mammals. Evidence of <italic>T. gondii</italic> infection was molecularly detected in three <italic>S. coeruleoalba</italic> and six <italic>T. truncatus</italic>.</p> </abstract>