Belgian scientists have investigated one of Europe's largest coastal dolphin populations and found that there are a large number of "mixed" pollutants in whale fat and skin - Mercury, polychlorinated biphenyls, dioxins and industrial liquids. Mercury levels in the 82 channel dolphins are among the highest ever found.        

    In the 1970s and 1980s, some of the most developed countries banned toxic organic pollutants, especially those containing chlorine. Even so, such pollutants can still be detected in marine organisms in the deepest waters. These organic compounds are soluble in oils and fats and are composed of various industrial processes and by-products of pesticides. Bottlenose dolphins (bottlenose dolphins) are often used to study pollution levels in the environment, as these organic compounds accumulate under their thicker adipose tissue layers.      

      This time, Krishna DAS, a scientist at the University of Liege in Belgium, and his colleagues selected 82 wild bottlenose dolphins living in the Gulf of normanno Breton in the English channel to study the levels of organic pollutants in blubber and mercury in skin.    

        Surprisingly, the team found a high concentration of pollutants in blubber, mainly composed of chlorinated compounds in industrial liquids (91% in males and 92% in females). In addition, there is little difference between the levels of mercury in skin samples and those previously found in bottlenose dolphins in the Mediterranean and Florida Everglades, where mercury pollution is also severe.         

   High concentrations of "mixed" pollutants in dolphins are thought to move through the mother to the next generation. According to the researchers, the methods that can be adopted now include the designation of the Bay as a special reserve, so as to protect one of the largest dolphin populations in Europe as much as possible.            Source: Science and Technology Daily