Mercury in the sea turtle Chelonia mydas (Linnaeus, 1958) from Ceará coast, NE Brazil

• Autor(a) principal: Bezerra,Moisés F.
• Data de Publicação: 2012
• Outros Autores: Lacerda,Luiz D., Costa,Breno G.B., Lima,Eduardo H.S.M.
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: eng
• Título da fonte: Anais da Academia Brasileira de Ciências (Online)
• Texto Completo: http://old.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0001-37652012000100012
• topic: Pollution; metals; marine turtles; monitoring

Mercury concentrations in carapace fragments of the green turtle Chelonia mydas from the Ceará coast in NE Brazil are reported. Concentrations varied from <0.34 to 856.6 ng.g -1 d.w., and were highest (average of 154.8 ng.g -1 d.w.) in juveniles (n = 22), whereas lowest concentrations (average of 2.5 ng.g -1 d.w.) were observed in adult/sub-adult animals (n = 3). There was a significant negative correlation between animal size and Hg concentration probably due to different diets between juveniles and sub-adults/adults. Carapace fragments, which are non-invasive, non-lethal substrates, may be of importance for monitoring purposes of these generally endangered species.