Abstract
Caudal scutes were collected from 92 Morelet’s crocodiles (Crocodylus moreletii) between May and August 2012, in three Wildlife Management and Use Units (UMAs, from its name in Spanish) and three wild sites in Campeche, Mexico. The UMAs are intensive, with an ex situ approach to manage crocodiles in captivity. The concentrations of arsenic, mercury, lead, nickel, cadmium and chromium were analyzed in each sample. As and Pb were detected in all samples, Hg in 86 and Ni in 74. The metal concentrations estimated were higher than most of the concentrations reported for skin, tail tip and caudal scutes in other crocodilians around the world. The concentration of As, Pb and Ni was significantly greater in the free-ranging groups than in the captive groups in UMAs (p < 0.05). Negative linear relationship was estimated between the snout-vent length and the concentration of Pb (in five groups) and Ni (in three groups). In this region C. moreletii is exposed to metals contamination and more studies are necessary to establish if represents a risk to their populations.
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Acknowledgments
We would like to thank SEMARNAT and CONANP for issuing the scientific collection permit and the logistic help provided. We would also like to give a special thanks to UMAS: Biosistemas Productivos Cocodrilo, Sociedad Cooperativa Wotoch-Aayin and Cocodrilos de Palizada by allowing us to use their specimens. Tanks to the Toxicology Laboratory of the Veterinary Medicine Faculty of UNAM, Javier Omar Gómez Duarte, Sergio Padilla, Claudia Monzón, Ivan Méndez, Gualberto “Chunko” Pacheco, Jose “Lupillo” Ruiz Vidal, Víctor Cú, Cati Trillanes, María Elena Martínez (SIBE-ECOSUR), Araceli Noguez (DGB-UNAM), Esperanza Flores, Daniel Collins and Carmen Valle by their help.
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Trillanes, C.E., Pérez-Jiménez, J.C., Rosíles-Martínez, R. et al. Metals in the Caudal Scutes of Morelet’s Crocodile (Crocodylus moreletii) from the Southern Gulf of Mexico. Bull Environ Contam Toxicol 93, 423–428 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00128-014-1349-8
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00128-014-1349-8