Coplanar PCB and Metal Residues in Dolphins from the U.S. Atlantic CoastIncluding Atlantic Bottlenose Dolphin Obained during the 1987/88 Mass Mortality

摘要

Bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) collected during the 1987/88 massmortality event along the Atlantic coast of the United States have been analyzed for coplanar PCBs Numbers 77, 105, 126 and 169 in blubber, and for the metals Hg, Pb, Cd, Mn, and Cr, and the non-metallic element Se in liver. Results have been compared to two reference species, common (Delphinus delphis) and white-sided (Lagenorhynchus acutus) dolphins. Mercury concentrations in all animals studied correlated with selenium concentrations (r=0.86) at a 1:1 mole ratio, indicating that selenium may protect these animals from mercury toxicity.