Dear MARMAM Subscribers,
On behalf of myself and my co-authors, I am pleased to share our new publication on "Elements in muscle tissue of three dolphin species from the east coast of South Africa”: Plön, S., Roussouw, N., Uren, R., Naidoo, K., Siebert, U., Cliff, G., Bouwman, H. 2023. Elements in muscle tissue of three dolphin species from the east coast of South Africa. *Marine Pollution Bulletin* 188, 114707. doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.marpolbul.2023.114707 *Abstract* Elemental concentrations in dolphins from South Africa were investigated using a comparative approach of examining muscle tissue from three bycaught species off the KwaZulu-Natal coastline. A total of 36 major, minor and trace elements were determined from 76 muscle samples from the Indian Ocean humpback dolphin *Sousa plumbea* (n=36), Indo-Pacific bottlenose dolphin *Tursiops aduncus* (n=32) and the Common dolphin *Delphinus delphis* (n=8). Significant differences in concentration between the three species were observed for 11 major and trace elements including cadmium, iron, manganese, sodium, platinum, antimony, selenium, strontium, uranium, vanadium and zinc. Mercury concentrations (maximum 29 mg/kg dry mass) were generally higher than those reported for similar species elsewhere. Our results likely reflect a combination of differing habitat, feeding ecology, age, and possibly species physiology and exposure to pollution levels. Together with very high organic pollutant concentrations documented previously for dolphins from the same location, our study provides a well-founded cause for concern, and highlights the requirement for long-term monitoring and the reduction of pollutant sources. You can access and download the full-text for free until 8 April 2023 at the following link: https://authors.elsevier.com/c/1gcEl,asi62Si Alternatively, please feel free to email me for a pdf copy or any queries. Kind regards, Natasha Roussouw Research assistant Port Elizabeth South Africa
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