Contamination Survey of Heavy Metals and Organochlorine Compounds in Cetacean Products Purchased in Japan.

The forgotten whale: a bibliometric analysis and literature review of the North Atlantic sei whale Balaenoptera borealis

“…Studies comparing contamination by organochlorine compounds in odontocetes and mysticetes from the same areas show levels of contamination at least one order of magnitude higher in the odontocetes (e.g. Focardi et al 1992, Borrell 1993, Marsili & Focardi 1996, Haraguchi et al 2000. That holds true for the North Atlantic sei whale, as has been shown by a study of Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCB) and Dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane family compounds (DDTs) using samples from sei, fin, sperm Physeter macrocephalus and pilot Globicephala melas whales, white-sided dolphins Lagenorhynchus acutus and harbour porpoises Phocoena phocoena from the Northeastern North Atlantic, where sei whale total DDTs and PCB concentrations (mg kg -1 ) were from 14 to 136 times and from 23 to 146 times, respectively, lower than those of the odontocete species (Borrell 1993).…”

“…Heavy metal contamination also tends to be lower in mysticetes and in the sei whale in particular; differences from odontocetes vary from non-existant to two orders of magnitude (e.g. Focardi et al 1992, Haraguchi et al 2000.…”

Analysis of mercury and methylmercury concentrations, and selenium:mercury molar ratios for a toxicological assessment of sperm whales (Physeter macrocephalus) in the most recent stranding event along the Adriatic coast (Southern Italy, Mediterranean Sea)

“…Heavy metals in marine pollution are a potential threat to cetaceans, which accumulate contaminants at extremely high concentrations because they occupy an uppermost trophic position in the ecosystem (Haraguchi et al, 2000;Simmonds et al, 2002). Contaminant concentrations in cetaceans are related both to the composition of their diet, and to sources relative to inputs from both natural and anthropogenic origins (Law et al, 2003).…”

A survey of trace element distribution in tissues of the dwarf sperm whale ( Kogia sima ) stranded along the South Carolina coast from 1990–2011

“…As a longlived apex predator, K. sima may act as an indicator of marine pollution with the potential to accumulate significant quantities of contaminants including metals. Heavy metals are well known environmental pollutants that accumulate in the bodies of odontocetes and have potential to constitute a toxicological risk for the species (Caurant et al, 1996;Endo et al, 2002;Haraguchi et al, 2000;Simmonds et al, 2002;Stavros et al, 2011). Seawater enrichment with heavy metals from natural occurrence or from anthropogenic impact may lead to an increase of metal burdens entering marine food chains (Fernandez et al, 2007).…”