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Heavy metals and essential elements in Commerson’s dolphins (Cephalorhynchus c. commersonii) from the southwestern South Atlantic Ocean

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Abstract

A survey of the elemental contents of K, Mg, Mn, Na, Cl, Br, Cs, Co, Rb, Fe, Zn, Al, Ti, V, As, Ag, Au and Cd in liver, kidney and muscle was performed in specimens of Commerson’s dolphins (Cephalorhynchus c. commersonii) from subantarctic waters. The concentrations were determined by Instrumental Neutron Activation Analysis and the specimens derives from animals incidentally caught in artisanal fishing nets. Liver had the highest concentrations of Fe, 897(79) μg g−1 DW (dry weight) (average; standard deviation in parenthesis), kidney had the highest Cd, 35 (24) μg g−1 DW; Cl, 9,200 (1,700) μg g−1 DW; Na, 6,800 (1,100) μg g−1 DW and Br, 73(12) μg g−1 DW; and muscle the highest Mg 954 (71) μg g−1 DW. Potassium and Cs concentrations in muscle and kidney ranged in 12,510–13,020 and 0.230–0.252 μg g−1 DW, respectively; Zn and Mn concentrations were similar in liver and kidney (117–122.1 and 3.66–16.5 μg g−1 DW, respectively). Silver was high in liver 5.4(5.0) μg g−1 DW and kidney 1.2(2.7) μg g−1 DW. Gold, Rb, Co and As had no differences among tissues. Likewise, as in other odontocete species, the concentrations of essential elements showed little variation between the specimens analyzed, since they are regulated biochemically; however, heavy metals showed high variability. This study constitutes the first large description of the elemental composition in Commerson’s dolphins from subantarctic waters of the South Atlantic Ocean.

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Acknowledgements

The authors express their gratitude to Andrea Rizzo and Marina Arcagni for the support in sample conditioning, and to the reactor RA-6 operation staff for their assistance in sample irradiation. ICS especially thanks Manuel O. Cáceres and Federico Pereyra Bonnet for their constant advice, Guillermo Cassini for the constructive suggestions, Myriam Susana Saez Falcucci, for giving her assistance and kind help during several steps of the study; and David Janiger, for valuable literature support. RNPG is grateful to the Committee for Research and Exploration of the National Geographic Society and Total Austral SA for their continuing support of the field work carried out in TdF and the Museo Acatushún de Aves y Mamíferos Marinos Australes, respectively. We appreciate the hard work of AMMA volunteers who helped with the collection and dissection of the specimens, and the collaboration of the fishermen. ICS was supported by a PhD fellowship from the Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (CONICET) of Argentina, and was funded by Grants in Aid of Research from the Cetacean Society International (CSI) and the Society for Marine Mammalogy (SMM). Research in TdF is carried out under permit from the local government. Samples were transferred under licences extended by Secretaría de Ciencia y Tecnología and Secretaria de Desarrollo Sustentable y Ambiente, Tierra del Fuego, Argentina. We are very grateful to the anonymous reviewers for their time and remarks.

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  1. Laboratorio de Ecología, Comportamiento y Mamíferos Marinos (LECyMM), 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, Natalia A. Dellabianca & R. Natalie P. Goodall

  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

    Natalia A. Dellabianca & R. Natalie P. Goodall

  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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Cáceres-Saez, I., Ribeiro Guevara, S., Dellabianca, N.A. et al. Heavy metals and essential elements in Commerson’s dolphins (Cephalorhynchus c. commersonii) from the southwestern South Atlantic Ocean. Environ Monit Assess 185, 5375–5386 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10661-012-2952-y

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