High pollutant exposure level of the largest European community of bottlenose dolphins in the English Channel
Zanuttini, C.; Gally, F.; Scholl, G.; Thomé, J.-P.; Eppé, G.; Das, K. (2019). High pollutant exposure level of the largest European community of bottlenose dolphins in the English Channel. NPG Scientific Reports 9(1): 10 pp. https://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41598-019-48485-7
The objective of this study was to assess the levels of persistent organic pollutants (POPs) and mercury (T-Hg) in the blubber and skin, respectively, of the free-ranging bottlenose dolphins, Tursiops truncatus, from the Normanno-Breton Gulf, one of the largest identified coastal population in Europe. Among all the POPs analysed in this study, the ∑NDL-PCBs were the most abundant compounds found in the blubber (mean: 1.33 × 105–0.65 × 105 ng.g−1lipid weight (lw) for males and females respectively), followed by ∑DDX (1.11 × 104–4.67 × 103 ng.g−1lw) > ∑DL-PCBs (8.06 × 103–2.62 × 103ng.g−1lw) > ∑PBDEs (1.95 × 103–0.64 × 103ng.g−1lw) > dieldrin (1.86 × 103–0.18 × 103 ng.g−1lw) > ∑endosulfan (405–62 ng.g−1lw) > HCB (86–52 ng.g−1lw) > ∑HCHs (47–60 ng.g−1lw) > ∑chlordane (24–0.97 ng.g−1lw) > ∑PCDFs (0.3–0.1 ng.g−1lw) > ∑PCDDs (0.06–0.05 ng.g−1lw). The T-Hg concentrations were highly variable between individuals (2.45 × 103 ng.g−1to 21.3 × 103 ng.g−1dry weight, dw). The reported concentrations are among the highest reported for cetaceans. We strongly recommend that the Normanno-Breton Gulf be a special area of conservation (cSAC) candidate because it contains the last large European population of bottlenose dolphins (rare or threatened within a European context) designated under the EC Habitats Directive.
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