Total mercury in stranded marine mammals from the Oregon and southern Washington coasts

Marine Mammal Science

Volumn 27, Issue 4, 2011, Pages

  Wintle, Nathan J P ^a   Duffield, Deborah A ^a   Barros Deceased, Nélio B ^a   Jones, Ronald D ^a   Rice, James M ^b  

^a PORTLAND STATE UNIVERSITY   (United States)

^b OREGON STATE UNIVERSITY   (United States)

Author keywords

California sea lion; Elephant seal; Harbor porpoise; Harbor seal; Heavy metal; Mercury; Methylmercury; Muscle; Steller sea lion; Stranding

Indexed keywords

BIOACCUMULATION; COHORT ANALYSIS; DESICCATION; FLUORESCENCE SPECTROSCOPY; MARINE ECOSYSTEM; MERCURY (ELEMENT); METHYLMERCURY; PINNIPED; POLLUTION EFFECT; SCAVENGING (FEEDING); TOXICITY;

OREGON; PACIFIC COAST [NORTH AMERICA]; PACIFIC COAST [UNITED STATES]; PACIFIC OCEAN; PACIFIC OCEAN (NORTHWEST); UNITED STATES; WASHINGTON [UNITED STATES];

ANIMALIA; EUMETOPIAS JUBATUS; MAMMALIA; MIROUNGA; MIROUNGA ANGUSTIROSTRIS; PHOCA; PHOCOENA; PHOCOENIDAE; ZALOPHUS;

EID: 80053622103     PISSN: 08240469     EISSN: 17487692     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1111/j.1748-7692.2010.00461.x     Document Type: Article

References (42)

1. Anas, R. E. 1974. Heavy metals in northern fur seals, Callorhinus ursinus, and harbor seals, Phoca vitulina richardi. Fishery Bulletin 72:133-137.
2. Andersen, S. H., and A. Rebsdorff 1976. Polychlorinated hydrocarbons and heavy metals in harbour porpoises (Phocoena phocoena) and whitebeak dolphins (Lagenorhynchus albirostris) from Danish waters. Aquatic Mammals 4:1-7.
3. Beckmen, K. B., L. K. Duffy, X. M. Zhang and K. W. Pitcher 2002. Mercury concentrations in the fur of Steller sea lions and northern fur seals from Alaska. Marine Pollution Bulletin 44:1130-1135.
4. Brigham, M. E., D. A. Wentz, G. R. Aiken and D. P. Krabbenhoft 2009. Mercury cycling in stream ecosystems. 1.Water column chemistry and transport. Environmental Science and Technology 43:2720-2725.
5. Brillinger, D. R., and B. S. Stewart 1998. Elephant-seal movements: Modelling migration. Canadian Journal of Statistics 26:431-443.
6. Brookens, T. J., T. M. O'Hara, R. J. Taylor, G. R. Bratton and J. T. Harvey 2008. Total mercury body burden in Pacific harbor seal, Phoca vitulina richardii, pups from central California. Marine Pollution Bulletin 56:27-41.
7. Buhler, D. R., R. R. Claeys and B. R. Mate 1975. Heavy metal and chlorinated hydrocarbon residues in California sea lions. Journal of the Fisheries Research Board of Canada 32:2391-2397.
8. Chasar, L. C., B. C. Scudder, A. R. Stewart, A. H. Bell and G. R. Aiken 2009. Mercury cycling in stream ecosystems. 3. Trophic dynamics and methylmercury bioaccumulation. Environmental Science and Technology 43:2733-2739.
9. Chen, C., A. Amirbahman, N. Fisher, G. Harding, C. Lamborg, D. Nacci and D. Taylor 2008. Methylmercury in marine ecosystems: spatial patterns and processes of production, bioaccumulation, and biomagnification. Ecohealth 5:399-408.
10. Eisler, R. 1984. Trace-metal changes associated with age of marine vertebrates. Biological Trace Element Research 6:165-180.
11. Eisler, R. 2006. Mercury: Hazards to living organisms. Taylor and Francis Group, Boca Raton, FL .
12. Elhassani, S. B. 1983. The many faces of methylmercury poisoning. Clinical Toxicology 19:875-906.
13. Gaskin, D. E., K. Ishida and R. Frank 1972. Mercury in harbour porpoises (Phocoena phocoena) from the Bay of Fundy region. Journal of the Fisheries Research Board of Canada 29:1644-1646.
14. Gaskin, D. E., K. I. Stonefield, P. Suda and R. Frank 1979. Changes in mercury levels in harbor porpoises from the Bay of Fundy, Canada, and adjacent waters during 1969-1977. Archives of Environmental Contamination and Toxicology 8:733-762.
15. Goyer, R. A. 1986. Toxic effects of metals. Casarett and Doull's toxicology. McMillan, New York, NY .
16. Harms, U., H. E. Drescher and E. Huschenbeth 1978. Further data on heavy metals and organochlorines in marine mammals for German coastal waters. Meeresforschung 261:153-161.
17. Harper, B. L., and S. G. Harris 2008. A possible approach for setting a mercury risk-based action level based on tribal fish ingestion rates. Environmental Research 107:60-68.
18. Henderson, C., and W. E. Shanks 1973. Mercury concentrations in fish. Pages in 45-58 D. R. Buhler, ed. Mercury in the western environment. Continuing Education Publications, Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR .
19. Holmes, A. L., S. S. Wise, C. E. C. Goertz, et al 2008. Metal tissue levels in Steller sea lion (Eumetopias jubatus) pups. Marine Pollution Bulletin 56:1416-1421.
20. Hope, B. K., and J. R. Rubin 2005. Mercury levels and relationships in water, sediment, and fish tissue in the Willamette Basin, Oregon. Archives of Environmental Contamination and Toxicology 48:367-380.
21. Joiris, C. R., L. Holsbeek, D. Bolba, et al 2001. Total and organic mercury in the Black Sea harbour porpoise Phocoena phocoena relicta. Marine Pollution Bulletin 42:905-911.
22. Joiris, C. R., L. Holsbeek, J. M. Bouquegneau and M. Bossicart 1991. Mercury contamination of the harbor porpoise Phocoena phocoena and other cetaceans from the North Sea and the Kattegat. Water Air and Soil Pollution 56:283-293.
23. Jones, R. D., J. WestThomas and C. Arfstrom 1997. Closed-ampule digestion procedure for the determination of mercury in soil and tissue using cold vapor atomic fluorescence spectrometry. Bulletin of Environmental Contamination and Toxicology 59:29-34.
24. Klangsin, P., and A. K. Harding 1998. Medical waste treatment and disposal methods used by hospitals in Oregon, Washington, and Idaho. Journal of the Air and Waste Management Association 48:516-526.
25. Lamborg, C. H., K. L. Von Damm, W. F. Fitzgerald, C. R. Hammerschmidt and R. Zierenberg 2006. Mercury and monomethylmercury in fluids from Sea Cliff submarine hydrothermal field, Gorda Ridge. Geophysical Research Letters 33:1-4.
26. Lowe, T. P., T. W. May, W. G. Brumbaugh and D. A. Kane 1985. National Contaminant Biomonitoring Program: Concentrations of seven elements in freshwater fish. Archives of Environmental Contamination and Toxicology 14:363-388.
27. Manning, R. 2009. EPA may designate Oregon mercury mine as superfund site. Available at (accessed 12 November 2009).
28. Mieiro, C. L., M. Pacheco, M. E. Pereira and A. C. Duarte 2009. Mercury distribution in key tissues of fish (Liza aurata) inhabiting a contaminated estuary-implications for human and ecosystem health risk assessment. Journal of Environmental Monitoring 11:1004-1012.
29. Nriagu, J., and C. Becker 2003. Volcanic emissions of mercury to the atmosphere: Global and regional inventories. Science of the Total Environment 304:3-12.
30. Park, J. G., and L. R. Curtis 1997. Mercury distribution in sediments and bioaccumulation by fish in two Oregon reservoirs: Point-source and nonpoint-source impacted systems. Archives of Environmental Contamination and Toxicology 33:423-429.
31. Pitcher, K. W., P. R. Olesiuk, R. F. Brown, et al 2007. Abundance and distribution of the eastern North Pacific Steller sea lion (Eumetopias jubatus) population. Fishery Bulletin 105:102-115.
32. Reeves, R. R., B. S. Stewart, P. J. Clapham and J. A. Powell 2002. Guide to marine mammals of the world. Alfred A. Knopf, New York, NY .
33. Seigneur, C., K. Vijayaraghavan, K. Lohman, P. Karamchandani and C. Scott 2004. Global source attribution for mercury deposition in the United States. Environmental Science and Technology 38:555-569.
34. Sergeant, D. E., and F. A. J. Armstrong 1973. Mercury in seals from eastern Canada. Journal of the Fisheries Research Board of Canada 30:843-846.
35. Sethajintanin, D., E. R. Johnson, B. R. Loper and K. A. Anderson 2004. Bioaccumulation profiles of chemical contaminants in fish from the lower Willamette River, Portland Harbor, Oregon. Archives of Environmental Contamination and Toxicology 46:114-123.
36. Siebert, U., C. Joiris, L. Holsbeek, H. Benke, K. Failing, K. Frese and E. Petzinger 1999. Potential relation between mercury concentrations and necropsy findings in cetaceans from German waters of the North and Baltic Seas. Marine Pollution Bulletin 38:285-295.
37. Skelton, H. P. 1925. The storage of water by various tissues of the body. M.S. thesis, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN 5
38. Smith, T. J., and F. A. J. Armstrong 1978. Mercury and selenium in ringed and bearded seal tissues from Arctic Canada. Journal of the Fisheries Research Board of Canada 32:75-84.
39. Szefer, P. M., M. Malinga, W. Czarnowsli and K. Skora 1995. Toxic, essential and non-essential metals in harbour porpoises of the Polish Baltic Sea. Pages 617-622 in A. Schytte Blix, L. Walløe and Ø. Ulltang, eds. Whales, seals, fish and man. Elsevier, Amsterdam, The Netherlands .
40. Tang, S. L., X. B. Feng, H. R. Qiu, G. X. Yin and Z. C. Yang 2007. Mercury speciation and emissions from coal combustion in Guiyang, southwest China. Environmental Research 105:175-182.
41. Westgate, A., and D. Johnson 1995. Regional differences in organochlorine and heavy metal contaminants in western North Atlantic harbour porpoises. International Whaling Commission, SC/47/SM20.
42. Zuerner, R. L., C. E. Cameron, S. Raverty, et al 2009. Geographical dissemination of Leptospira interrogans serovar Pomona during seasonal migration of California sea lions. Veterinary Microbiology 137:105-110.