Evaluation of heavy metals accumulation along bottlenose (Tursiops truncatus) trophic chain in Northern Adriatic Sea

Starting from UNEP report 1999 Italy is first producer for heavy metals (Pb, Cd, Cu, Zn) marine pollution, being responsible of 30% of total reelase of these compounds in Mediterranean Sea. Being it a closed sea, with a reduced hydric exchange, Mediterranean is particularly exposed to risks derived from chemical pollution. Knowing pollution degree of this sea by estimating contaminants concentrations in marine species placed at the top of food chains, including marine mammals and cetacean, is thus mandatory. Despite the high number of studies focusing on heavy metals in tissues of different cetacean species, little information is available concerning contaminants transfer along their trophic chains, thus defining which could be main diet components contributing to toxicant body burden for each of the metal considered. Present work focuses on the evaluation of heavy metals presence in tissues of bottlenose from Northern Adriatic Sea and in some components of its diet, trying to define which could be the contribution that each of them give to the body burden of predators.