Division of Wildlife Conservation, Alaska Department of Fish and Game, Fairbanks, AK 99701, United States.
Sci Total Environ. 2013 Jun 1;454-455:277-82. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2013.02.095. Epub 2013 Mar 29.
Total mercury concentrations ([THg]) measured in western Aleutian Island Steller sea lion pup hair were the highest maximum [THg] documented in this endangered species to date. Some pups exceeded concentrations at which other fish-eating mammals can exhibit adverse neurological and reproductive effects (21% and 15% pups above 20 and 30 μg/g in hair, respectively). Of particular concern is fetal exposure to mercury during a particularly vulnerable stage of neurological development in late gestation. Hair and blood [THg] were highly correlated and 20% of pups sampled in the western Aleutian Islands of Alaska exceeded mammalian risk thresholds established for each of these tissues. Higher nitrogen isotope ratios suggested that pups accumulated the highest [THg] when their dams fed on higher trophic level prey during late gestation.
在西阿留申群岛的幼年白令海狮的毛发中测量到的总汞浓度（[THg]）是迄今为止在这种濒危物种中记录到的最高值。一些幼崽的[THg]浓度超过了其他食鱼哺乳动物可能表现出不良神经和生殖影响的浓度（分别有 21%和 15%的幼崽的毛发中的[THg]浓度超过 20 和 30μg/g）。特别令人关注的是，在妊娠后期神经发育特别脆弱的阶段，胎儿暴露于汞。毛发和血液中的[THg]高度相关，在阿拉斯加西部阿留申群岛采样的 20%的幼崽超过了为这两种组织分别建立的哺乳动物风险阈值。较高的氮同位素比值表明，当母兽在妊娠后期以更高营养级别的猎物为食时，幼崽积累了最高浓度的[THg]。
