Oil spill causes mass mortality of sea snakes in the Gulf of Oman

Fadi Yaghmour; Johannes Els; Elisa Maio; Brendan Whittington-Jones; Fatin Samara; Yehya El Sayed; Richard Ploeg; Alyazia Alzaabi; Susannah Philip; Jane Budd; Marshall Mupandawana

doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.154072

Oil spill causes mass mortality of sea snakes in the Gulf of Oman

Sci Total Environ. 2022 Jun 15:825:154072. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.154072. Epub 2022 Feb 22.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ Hefaiyah Mountain Conservation Centre (Scientific Research Department), Environment and Protected Areas Authority, Sharjah, United Arab Emirates. Electronic address: fadi.mohd@epaa.shj.ae.
² Breeding Centre of Endangered Arabian Wildlife, Environment and Protected Areas Authority, Sharjah, United Arab Emirates.
³ Sharjah Desert Park Office (Scientific Research Department), Environment and Protected Areas Authority, Sharjah, United Arab Emirates.
⁴ Department of Biology, Chemistry and Environmental Sciences, American University of Sharjah, Sharjah, United Arab Emirates.
⁵ Veterinary Biosciences, Faculty of Veterinary and Agricultural Sciences, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia.
⁶ Khor Kalba Mangrove Centre (Scientific Research Department), Environment and Protected Areas Authority, Sharjah, United Arab Emirates.

PMID: 35217042
DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.154072

Abstract

Oil spills in the marine environment inflict significant impacts on a wide diversity of marine fauna. Despite the abundance of literature describing these impacts on numerous species, no studies describe the impacts on sea snakes. In this study we report, for the first time, details of an oil spill which caused mass mortality of sea snakes. In this study, 39 sea snake mortalities from the Gulf of Oman, in particular, the coast of Kalba, Sharjah, UAE, were examined. The investigated sea snakes belong to four different species (Hydrophis platurus, H. lapemoides, H. spiralis and H. ornatus). The majority (84.6%) of sea snakes were observed to have oil covering 75-100% of their bodies. The majority (91.4%) of sea snakes were also observed with oil covering their snouts and eyes. A large proportion (25.8, 41.4 and 34.5%) of sea snakes were observed with oil in their mouth, esophagus and stomach.

Keywords: Ecotoxicology; Gulf of Oman; Marine pollution; Marine reptile; Oil spill; Sea snake.

MeSH terms

Animals
Hydrophiidae*
Oman
Petroleum Pollution* / adverse effects