High pollutant exposure level of the largest European community of bottlenose dolphins in the English Channel

• Published in: Scientific reports 2019-09, Vol.9 (1), p.12521-10, Article 12521
• Main Authors: Zanuttini, Cyrielle, Gally, François, Scholl, Georges, Thomé, Jean-Pierre, Eppe, Gauthier, Das, Krishna
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: 631/158/672; 704/829/826; Animal behavior; Animals; Aquatic sciences & oceanology; Blubber; Bottle-Nosed Dolphin - metabolism; Cetacea; Chlordane; Conservation areas; Dieldrin; Dolphins & porpoises; ecotoxicology; Endosulfan; English Channel; Environmental sciences & ecology; Europe; Female; Humanities and Social Sciences; Life sciences; Male; marine mammals; Mercury; multidisciplinary; Persistent Organic Pollutants; Science; Science (multidisciplinary); Sciences aquatiques & océanologie; Sciences de l’environnement & écologie; Sciences du vivant; Skin; Tursiops truncatus; Water Pollutants, Chemical - pharmacokinetics; Water Pollutants, Chemical - toxicity
• ISSN: 2045-2322; 2045-2322
• DOI: 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 × 10 5 –0.65 × 10 5  ng.g −1 lipid weight (lw) for males and females respectively), followed by ∑DDX (1.11 × 10 4 –4.67 × 10 3  ng.g −1 lw) > ∑DL-PCBs (8.06 × 10 3 –2.62 × 10 3 ng.g −1 lw) > ∑PBDEs (1.95 × 10 3 –0.64 × 10 3 ng.g −1 lw) > dieldrin (1.86 × 10 3 –0.18 × 10 3  ng.g −1 lw) > ∑endosulfan (405–62 ng.g −1 lw) > HCB (86–52 ng.g −1 lw) > ∑HCHs (47–60 ng.g −1 lw) > ∑chlordane (24–0.97 ng.g −1 lw) > ∑PCDFs (0.3–0.1 ng.g −1 lw) > ∑PCDDs (0.06–0.05 ng.g −1 lw). The T-Hg concentrations were highly variable between individuals (2.45 × 10 3  ng.g −1 to 21.3 × 10 3 ng.g −1 dry 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.