RESEARCH ARTICLE Possible maternal offloading of metals in the plasma, uterine and capsule fluid of pregnant ragged-tooth sharks (Carcharias taurus) on the east coast of South Africa Kristina Naidoo 1 & Anil Chuturgoon 1 & Geremy Cliff 2,3 & Sanil Singh 3 & Megan Ellis 4 & Nicholas Otway 5 & Andre Vosloo 6 & Michael Gregory 7 Received: 11 January 2017 /Accepted: 17 May 2017 # Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2017 Abstract We studied the possible metal offloading onto the progeny of three pregnant female ragged-tooth sharks (Carcharias taurus) (C. taurus). The presences of five metals, i.e. aluminium (Al), arsenic (As), cadmium (Cd), lead (Pb) and selenium (Se) were validated by mass spectrometry in the maternal plasma as well as the intracapsular and uterine fluids (UF) in which embryos develop. Metals were ranked in a decreasing concentration as follows: Plasma: As > Al > Se > Pb > Cd; ICF: As > Se > Al > Cd > Pb and UF: As > Se > Al > Cd > Pb. As was present in the highest concentration in all three sharks. Al, Pb and Cd were found to be the highest within the plasma, while concentrations of Se were similar in all three fluids. These results indicate that C. taurus embry- os are exposed to metals during early development, but the impact of this exposure remains unknown. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first investigation to confirm the presence of metals in the fluids that surround the developing C. taurus embryos, a species that is already listed as vulnerable. Keywords Carcharias taurus . Fluid . Intracapsular . Metals . Plasma . Reproduction . South Africa . Uterus Introduction Elasmobranchs are apex predators known to accumulate both organic and metal environmental contaminants (Gelsleichter and Walker 2010). Factors that contribute to this bioaccumu- lation, allowing them to serve as environmental monitors, are their life history characteristics such as their trophic position, longevity and diet (Hornung et al. 1993; Mull et al. 2012). The presence of metals has been documented in elasmo- branchs (Gelsleichter and Walker 2010; Mull et al. 2012; Vas 1987). Maternal offloading is the process, whereby a female transfers anthropogenic contamination to her offspring (Lyons and Lowe 2013). This process has been reported in various animals (Borrell et al. 1995; Peng et al. 2012) including elas- mobranchs (Frias-Espericueta et al. 2014; Lyons and Lowe 2013; Zaera and Johnsen 2011). Metal contamination has been documented in elasmobranchs in South Africa (SA) (Bosch et al. 2016; Watling et al. 1982). The term Bmetals^ in this paper has replaced the widely used Bheavy metals^ (Hodson 2004). This term represents both heavy (As, Cd, Se and Pb) and light (Al) density metals. The high density metals, with the exception of Se, are nones- sential metals that are toxic at low concentrations, while es- sential metals, Se and Al, can be toxic at high concentrations (Govind and Madhuri 2014). This study focussed on these metals as they are known to accumulate in an organism as it ages; regardless of type of tissue or species (Eisler 1984) and Responsible editor: Philippe Garrigues * Anil Chuturgoon chutur@ukzn.ac.za 1 Discipline of Medical Biochemistry, University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN), Durban, South Africa 2 KwaZulu-Natal Sharks Board (KZNSB), Umhlanga, South Africa 3 Biomedical Resource Unit, University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN), Durban, South Africa 4 Gladstone Ports Corporation, Gladstone, QLD, Australia 5 New South Wales Department of Primary Industries, Port Stephens Fisheries Institute, Taylors Beach, NSW, Australia 6 School of Laboratory Medicine and Medical Sciences, University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN), Durban, South Africa 7 School of Health Sciences, University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN), Durban, South Africa Environ Sci Pollut Res DOI 10.1007/s11356-017-9281-1