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Blood and Hair Mercury Concentrations in the Pacific Harbor Seal (Phoca vitulina richardii) Pup: Associations with Neurodevelopmental Outcomes

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Abstract

Monomethylmercury (MeHg+) is an environmental pollutant, which at sufficiently high exposures, has induced neurotoxicosis in several animal species, including humans. Adverse neurological effects due to gestational exposure are of particular concern as MeHg+ readily crosses the blood–brain and placental barriers. The degree to which environmental concentrations in marine prey affect free-living piscivorous wildlife, however, remains largely undetermined. We examined associations of gestational exposures to mercury on neurodevelopment and survival using hair and blood concentrations of total mercury ([THg]) in a stranded population of Pacific harbor seal pups from central California. A positive association was determined for the presence of abnormal neurological symptoms and increasing [THg] in blood (P = 0.04), but not hair. Neither hair nor blood [THg] was significantly associated with survival, or the neurodevelopmental milestone ‘free-feeding’, which was measured from the onset of hand-assisted feeding to the time at which pups were able to consume fish independently. Both hair and blood [THg] exceeded threshold values considered potentially toxic to humans and other mammalian wildlife species. The higher [THg] in blood associated with abnormal neurological symptoms may indicate an adverse effect of this pollutant on neurodevelopment in harbor seal pups. These data have broader implications with respect to human health and public policy as harbor seals and humans consume similar fish species, and it is possible that safeguard levels established for marine mammals could also extend to human populations that regularly consume fish.

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Acknowledgements

We thank the staff and volunteers at TMMC for their assistance in sample collections and neurological data acquisition, the Wildlife Toxicology Laboratory (UAF) for accommodating their expert knowledge and use of Milestone DMA-80 Direct Mercury Analyzers, and Dr. Christina Hansen for her analysis of blood [THg]. We also thank Dr. Larissa Minicucci, DVM/MPH Program Director at the University of Minnesota, College of Veterinary Medicine for her gracious support of this project. This research was conducted under MMPA permit No. 932-1905/MA-009526 Gulland F. as part of standard protocols with subsamples provided for this diagnostic assessment.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Public Health, University of Minnesota, 420 Delaware St SE Mmc88, Minneapolis, MN, 55455, USA

    Samala Van Hoomissen

  2. The Marine Mammal Center, 2000 Bunker Road, Fort Cronkhite, Sausalito, CA, 94965, USA

    Frances M. D. Gulland & Denise J. Greig

  3. Department of Veterinary Medicine, College of Natural Science and Mathematics, University of Alaska Fairbanks, Fairbanks, AK, 99775, USA

    J. Margaret Castellini & Todd M. O’Hara

  4. 8601 Lincoln Blvd. #3317, Los Angeles, CA, 90045, USA

    Samala Van Hoomissen

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  1. Samala Van Hoomissen
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  2. Frances M. D. Gulland
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  3. Denise J. Greig
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  4. J. Margaret Castellini
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  5. Todd M. O’Hara
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Correspondence to Samala Van Hoomissen.

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Van Hoomissen, S., Gulland, F.M.D., Greig, D.J. et al. Blood and Hair Mercury Concentrations in the Pacific Harbor Seal (Phoca vitulina richardii) Pup: Associations with Neurodevelopmental Outcomes. EcoHealth 12, 490–500 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10393-015-1021-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10393-015-1021-8

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