Risk assessment of potentially toxic elements accumulated in fish to Indo-Pacific humpback dolphins in the South China Sea

Yao Lin; Xiaoxuan Yu; Linlin Huang; Edmond Sanganyado; Ran Bi; Ping Li; Wenhua Liu

doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.143256

Risk assessment of potentially toxic elements accumulated in fish to Indo-Pacific humpback dolphins in the South China Sea

Sci Total Environ. 2021 Mar 20:761:143256. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.143256. Epub 2020 Nov 3.

Authors

Yao Lin¹, Xiaoxuan Yu¹, Linlin Huang¹, Edmond Sanganyado², Ran Bi³, Ping Li³, Wenhua Liu⁴

Affiliations

¹ Provincial Key Laboratory of Marine Biotechnology, Institute of Marine Science, Shantou University, Shantou, Guangdong 515063, China.
² Provincial Key Laboratory of Marine Biotechnology, Institute of Marine Science, Shantou University, Shantou, Guangdong 515063, China; Southern Marine Science and Engineering Guangdong Laboratory, Guangzhou 511458, China. Electronic address: esang001@ucr.edu.
³ Provincial Key Laboratory of Marine Biotechnology, Institute of Marine Science, Shantou University, Shantou, Guangdong 515063, China; Southern Marine Science and Engineering Guangdong Laboratory, Guangzhou 511458, China.
⁴ Provincial Key Laboratory of Marine Biotechnology, Institute of Marine Science, Shantou University, Shantou, Guangdong 515063, China; Southern Marine Science and Engineering Guangdong Laboratory, Guangzhou 511458, China. Electronic address: whliu@stu.edu.cn.

PMID: 33172644
DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.143256

Abstract

Indo-Pacific humpback dolphins (Sousa chinensis) reside in shallow coastal waters where they are exposed to potentially toxic elements (PTEs) through dietary intake. We quantitatively assessed the risk posed by eight PTEs to the health of S. chinensis by determining their concentration in 13 fish species. The fish species represented the primary prey of S. chinensis in the South China Sea. Zn and Mn were the most dominant elements in fish at all sampling locations with concentrations ranges of 19.93-67.63 mg kg ^-1 dry weight (dw) and 1.52-68.2 mg kg ^-1 dw, respectively. The highest Zn concentration in fish was found in Coilia mystus (72.65 mg kg^-1 dw) followed by Liza carinatus (62.57 mg kg^-1 dw). At Jiangmen, Zn concentration was significantly lower in benthopelagic fish than in pelagic fish (p < 0.05, one-way ANOVA), while no significant difference was observed in other metals. The health risk posed by dietary intake assessed using the toxicity reference value showed that PTEs did not significant health risk to S. chinensis. In contrast, the risk quotient (RQ) based on reference doses ranged from 2.17 to 54.63 in prey fish that were contaminated with Zn and Cr indicating a potential health risk to S. chinensis in the South China Sea. The number of PTEs that posed a health risk varied between sites with seven out of eight PTEs above threshold at Jiangmen and six out of eight at Zhanjiang and Qinzhou. This study showed fish niche and location may influence the health risk posed by consumption of PTE-contaminated fish.

Keywords: Indo-Pacific Humpback dolphin; Marine pollution; Potentially toxic elements; Risk assessment; South China Sea.

MeSH terms

Animals
China
Dolphins*
Fishes
Risk Assessment