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Elemental concentrations in skin and internal tissues of Commerson’s dolphins (Cephalorhynchus commersonii) from subantarctic waters

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Abstract

The skin of cetaceans is the most accessible tissue, and its sampling has been proposed as a noninvasive method to evaluate trace element concentrations in free-ranging populations. In the present work, concentrations of essential (Cl, Na, K, Mg, Fe, Zn, Mn and Co), nonessential (As and Ag), and of unknown essentiality (Br, Rb and Cs) elements were determined in the skin from nine by-caught Commerson’s dolphins (Cephalorhynchus commersonii) from Tierra del Fuego, Argentina. Skin correlations with internal tissues—lung, liver, kidney and muscle—were assessed to evaluate how the skin represents internal element concentration for monitoring purposes. Elemental contents were analyzed by instrumental neutron activation analysis (INAA). Regarding tissue distribution, skin had the highest concentration of Zn being two orders of magnitude higher than internal tissues, while other elements such as Co and Rb had similar concentrations among tissues. High mean concentrations of Cl, Na, Mg, Br and Mn were observed in the lung and liver. Our results support the use of skin to evaluate Fe, Br and Rb concentrations in internal tissues for biomonitoring purposes; however, other elements did not show significant skin-to-tissue correlations. Overall, toxic element levels were far below concentrations found to cause harm in marine vertebrates. This study provided baseline data on elemental concentrations in tissues of Commerson’s dolphins in subantarctic waters from the South Atlantic Ocean.

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Acknowledgments

The authors wish to express their gratitude to the reactor RA-6 operation staff for sample irradiation. Thanks are extended to Andrea Rizzo and Marina Arcagni for assistance in the laboratory and to many volunteers who helped in the collection and dissection of specimens at the Museo Acatushún de Aves y Mamíferos Marinos Australes in Tierra del Fuego. ICS acknowledges Manuel O. Cáceres for his valuable and logistic support, also M. Susana Saez Falcucci and Federico Pereyra Bonnet for their kindly assistance in the field. ICS was supported by a postdoctoral fellowship from the Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas, Argentina (CONICET), and was funded by Grants in Aid of Research from the Cetacean Society International and the Society for Marine Mammalogy. This study was a part of ICS PhD thesis. This manuscript benefited from the language revision of Carolina Loch (University of Otago, NZ). We deeply acknowledge the anonymous reviewers and journal editor for their valuable comments on the manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratorio de Ecología, Comportamiento y Mamíferos Marinos (LECyMM), División Mastozoología, Museo Argentino de Ciencias Naturales “Bernardino Rivadavia” (MACN-CONICET), Av. Ángel Gallardo 470, C1405DJR, Buenos Aires, Argentina

    Iris Cáceres-Saez & H. Luis Cappozzo

  2. Museo Acatushún de Aves y Mamíferos Marinos Australes, Sarmiento 44, 9410, Ushuaia, Tierra del Fuego, Argentina

    Iris Cáceres-Saez, R. Natalie P. Goodall & Natalia A. Dellabianca

  3. Laboratorio de Análisis por Activación Neutrónica, Centro Atómico Bariloche - Comisión Nacional de Energía Atómica (CAB-CNEA), Av. E. Bustillo 9500, 8400, Bariloche, Argentina

    Sergio Ribeiro Guevara

  4. Centro Austral de Investigaciones Científicas (CADIC-CONICET), Houssay 200, V9410BFD, Ushuaia, Tierra del Fuego, Argentina

    R. Natalie P. Goodall & Natalia A. Dellabianca

  5. Centro de Estudios Biomédicos, Biotecnológicos, Ambientales y Diagnóstico (CEBBAD), Fundación de Historia Natural Félix de Azara, Departamento de Ciencias Naturales y Antropología, Universidad Maimónides, Hidalgo 775, C1405BCK, Buenos Aires, Argentina

    H. Luis Cappozzo

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  1. Iris Cáceres-Saez
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  2. Sergio Ribeiro Guevara
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  3. R. Natalie P. Goodall
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  4. Natalia A. Dellabianca
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  5. H. Luis Cappozzo
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Correspondence to Iris Cáceres-Saez.

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R. Natalie P. Goodall: Deceased.

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Cáceres-Saez, I., Ribeiro Guevara, S., Goodall, R.N.P. et al. Elemental concentrations in skin and internal tissues of Commerson’s dolphins (Cephalorhynchus commersonii) from subantarctic waters. Polar Biol 40, 351–364 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00300-016-1962-6

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