Residues of Petroleum Hydrocarbons in Tissues of Sea Turtles Exposed to the Ixtoc I Oil Spill

Determining oil and dispersant exposure in sea turtles from the northern Gulf of Mexico resulting from the Deepwater Horizon oil spill

“…Physical oiling or oil ingestion by sea turtles has been documented, but tissue levels of petroleum-related compounds were not reported in most cases (Gramentz 1988, Bugoni et al 2001, Orós et al 2005, reviewed in Yender & Mearns 2003. Hall et al (1983) reported concentrations of petroleum hydrocarbons in tissues of sea turtles exposed to oil after the Ixtoc spill in the Bay of Campeche, Mexico, in 1979. In freshwater turtles, studies have focused on PAH concentrations in eggs and subcutaneous fat (Bell et al 2006, Holliday et al 2008, Rowe et al 2009) or blood (Drabeck et al 2014, Meyer et al 2016) of turtles from known contaminated habitats.…”

Sea Turtles of the Gulf of Mexico

“…Chronic oil exposure may have led to their poor body condition and, ultimately, their death (Hall et al 1983). Juvenile Kemp's ridleys that were released into Sargassum patches offshore Padre and Mustang Islands, Texas in 1983 were found stranded on Padre and Mustang Island beaches with oily residues in their mouth, esophagus, and stomach; the residues were later determined to most likely be a result of tanker cleaning operations (Overton et al 1983).…”

Green turtle fibropapillomatosis: challenges to assessing the role of environmental cofactors.

“…The few studies that have been published are difficult to interpret in the context of GTFP. For example, whereas one study in 1983 found significant amounts of hydrocarbons in two green turtles that stranded after a major oil spill (25), most surveys of organochlorine and polychlorinated biphenyl residues in green turtle tissues including eggs have yielded relatively low levels, often below the limits of detection of the methods (26)(27)(28)(29) Third, toxic effects may not be direct as in some experimental models but may involve complex interactions with other abiotic and biotic factors. Thus, fulfilling the criteria for implicating specific chemical contaminants as important cofactors for GTFP expression could be extremely difficult (12,30).…”