Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) in three bathyal chondrichthyes from the North-Western Mediterranean Sea

Guia Consales; Massimiliano Bottaro; Cecilia Mancusi; Alessandra Neri; Paolo Sartor; Alessandro Voliani; Antonella D'Agostino; Letizia Marsili

doi:10.1016/j.marpolbul.2023.115647

Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) in three bathyal chondrichthyes from the North-Western Mediterranean Sea

Mar Pollut Bull. 2023 Nov:196:115647. doi: 10.1016/j.marpolbul.2023.115647. Epub 2023 Oct 11.

Authors

Guia Consales¹, Massimiliano Bottaro², Cecilia Mancusi³, Alessandra Neri⁴, Paolo Sartor⁵, Alessandro Voliani⁶, Antonella D'Agostino⁷, Letizia Marsili⁸

Affiliations

¹ Department of Physical Sciences, Earth and Environment, University of Siena, Via Mattioli 4, Siena 53100, Italy; Department of Integrative Marine Ecology, Genoa Marine Centre, Stazione Zoologica Anton Dohrn, Italian National Institute for Marine Biology, Ecology and Biotechnology, Villa del Principe, Piazza del Principe 4, 16126 Genoa, Italy.
² Department of Integrative Marine Ecology, Genoa Marine Centre, Stazione Zoologica Anton Dohrn, Italian National Institute for Marine Biology, Ecology and Biotechnology, Villa del Principe, Piazza del Principe 4, 16126 Genoa, Italy. Electronic address: massimiliano.bottaro@szn.it.
³ Department of Physical Sciences, Earth and Environment, University of Siena, Via Mattioli 4, Siena 53100, Italy; ARPAT Regional Agency for Environmental Protection of Tuscany, Via Marradi 114, 57126 Livorno, Italy.
⁴ Department of Physical Sciences, Earth and Environment, University of Siena, Via Mattioli 4, Siena 53100, Italy; Consortium for the Inter-University Center of Marine Biology and Applied Ecology "G.Bacci", Viale Nazario Sauro 4, 57128, Livorno, Italy.
⁵ Consortium for the Inter-University Center of Marine Biology and Applied Ecology "G.Bacci", Viale Nazario Sauro 4, 57128, Livorno, Italy.
⁶ ARPAT Regional Agency for Environmental Protection of Tuscany, Via Marradi 114, 57126 Livorno, Italy.
⁷ Department of Economics and Statistics, University of Siena, Italy.
⁸ Department of Physical Sciences, Earth and Environment, University of Siena, Via Mattioli 4, Siena 53100, Italy; Inter-University Center of Cetacean Research (CIRCE), Via Mattioli 4, Siena 53100, Italy.

PMID: 37832499
DOI: 10.1016/j.marpolbul.2023.115647

Abstract

The deep-sea can act as a sink for legacy contaminants such as organochlorines (OCs), causing damages in its inhabitants for their persistence and their prolonged effects in the organisms. HCB, DDT and its isomers, and 28 PCBs congeners were detected in muscle and embryonic tissues of three deep-sea chondrichthyes Chimaera monstrosa (n = 16), Dalatias licha (n = 12) and Etmopterus spinax (n = 51) sampled in Ligurian and Tyrrhenian Sea (Mediterranean Sea). Contaminant distribution in E. spinax and C. monstrosa was PCBs > DDTs ≫ HCB while in D. licha was DDTs > PCBs ≫ HCB. Statistically significant differences were highlighted in OC levels among the species, but no such differences were found among sexes. Ratios between DDT isomers highlighted an historical input of the pesticide in the environment. For the first time was also demonstrated maternal transfer in deep water chondrichthyes, specifically in E. spinax where was highlighted that transfer of contaminants increases with increasing compound's Log Kow.

Keywords: Chondrichthyes; Deep-sea; Maternal transfer; Mediterranean Sea; Organochlorine contaminants; Pollution threat.

MeSH terms

Animals
DDT
Environmental Monitoring
Fishes
Hydrocarbons, Chlorinated* / analysis
Mediterranean Sea
Persistent Organic Pollutants
Polychlorinated Biphenyls* / analysis
Water Pollutants, Chemical* / analysis

Substances

Polychlorinated Biphenyls
Persistent Organic Pollutants
DDT
Hydrocarbons, Chlorinated
Water Pollutants, Chemical