Dear Marmam,
On behalf of my coauthors, I would like to share with you our recent short note on Mediterranean rough-toothed dolphins where we provide some new insights into their distribution
and highlight one extreme case of ingestion of macroplastics that included squid-like plastic fishing lures.
Link:
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0025326X23001327?dgcid=author
Abstract: Rough-toothed dolphins (Steno bredanensis) form an isolated subpopulation in
the Mediterranean Sea that resides only in the eastern basin. Due to the paucity of records, the conservation threats these dolphins face and their ecology and distribution are poorly understood. While most observations indicate that individuals are found
in two isolated clusters in the eastern basin, we hereby present five observations -three visual, one acoustic and one stranding- that possibly extend the range of this subpopulation to the entire offshore waters of the eastern basin. The stomach content remains
of the stranded individual revealed a diet based on epipelagic squids and octopods. The stranded dolphin had also consumed seven plastic bags and nine squid-like plastic fishing lures, which had caused a complete gastric blockage and probably led to the stranding.
High pollution loads from macroplastics in the Mediterranean Sea may evolve into a new potential threat for this subpopulation.
If you want a copy of the note, please email me at
ilias.foskolos@ecos.au.dk.
Best regards,
Ilias
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Ilias Foskolos,
Postdoctoral Fellow
Wildlife Ecology, Dept. Ecoscience & Zoophysiology, Dept. Biology
Aarhus University
C.F. Møllers Allé 8, Building 1110
DK-8000 Aarhus C, Denmark
E-mail:
lifosk@hotmail.com
, ilias.foskolos@ecos.au.dk
, ilias.foskolos@bio.au.dk
Phone: (+45) 50656572