Selected Heavy Metals and Selenium in the Blood of Black Sea Turtle (Chelonia mydas agasiizzi) from Sonora, Mexico C. P. Ley-Quin ˜o ´nez • A. A. Zavala-Norzagaray • J. G. Re ´ndon-Maldonado • T. L. Espinosa-Carreo ´n • A. Canizales-Roma ´n • D. C. Escobedo-Urı ´as • M. L. Leal-Acosta • C. E. Hart • A. A. Aguirre Received: 7 March 2013 / Accepted: 18 September 2013 / Published online: 27 September 2013 Ó Springer Science+Business Media New York 2013 Abstract The concentration of heavy metals (Zn, Cd, Ni, Cu, Mn) and selenium (Se) was analyzed in blood collected from 12 black turtles (Chelonia mydas agasiizzi) captured in Canal del Infiernillo, Punta Chueca, Mexico. The most abundant metals were Zn (63.58 lgg -1 ) and Se (7.66 lgg -1 ), and Cd was the lower (0.99 lgg -1 ). The sequential concentrations of trace metals were Zn [ Se [ Cu [ Mn [ Ni [ Cd. In conclusion, this information is important as a baseline when using blood as tissue analysis of heavy metals; however, these levels could represent recent exposure in foraging grounds of black turtles in the Sea of Cortez. Keywords Sea turtle  Chelonia mydas agasiizzi  Heavy metals  Cadmium  Sea Cortez  Mexico Ocean pollution due to anthropogenic environmental con- taminants, have been linked to the emergence of diseases and syndromes in individuals, populations and ecosystems (Aguirre and Lutz 2004). In particular, exposure to organic contaminants and heavy metals has been linked to the rapid degradation of coastal habitats (Godley et al. 1999; Clark 2001; Green-Ruiz and Pa ´ez-Osuna 2004). This represents a serious threat to dwindling sea turtle populations (Garcia- Fernandez et al. 2009). Contaminants such as trace levels of heavy metals have been previously reported in sea tur- tles (Aguirre et al. 1994; Anan et al. 2002; Franzellitti et al. 2004; Gardner et al. 2006; Kampalath et al. 2006; Agusa et al. 2008). However, tissues analyzed in these studies do not increase our understanding of toxicological processes for these species, since they are the result of opportunistic sampling (van de Merwe et al. 2010). Blood tissue has been successfully used to measure heavy metals and metalloids due to the vital functions performed by blood cells and their susceptibility to intoxication (Caurant et al. 1999). Recent studies have favored the use of blood analysis in sea turtles as a non-lethal method for environmental contami- nant monitoring and have led to heavy metals being reported in the blood of a number of Chelonia mydas C. P. Ley-Quin ˜o ´nez  A. A. Zavala-Norzagaray  J. G. Re ´ndon-Maldonado  A. Canizales-Roma ´n Programa para el Doctorado en Biotecnologı ´a, Facultad de Ciencias Quı ´mico-Biolo ´gicas, Universidad Auto ´noma de Sinaloa, Culiaca ´n, Sinaloa, Mexico C. P. Ley-Quin ˜o ´nez (&) Departamento de vectores y zoonosis, delegacio ´n sanitaria No. IV, Servicios de Salud de Sinaloa No. IV, Escobedo # 1026, Col. Las Vegas, C. P. 80010 Culiaca ´n, Sinaloa, Mexico e-mail: cpley81@gmail.com A. A. Zavala-Norzagaray  T. L. Espinosa-Carreo ´n  D. C. Escobedo-Urı ´as CIIDIR-SIN, Instituto Polite ´cnico Nacional, Guasave, Sinaloa, Mexico M. L. Leal-Acosta CICIMAR, Instituto Polite ´cnico Nacional, La Paz, Baja California Sur, Mexico C. E. Hart Centro Universitario de la Costa, Universidad de Guadalajara, Puerto Vallarta, Jalisco, Mexico A. A. Aguirre Department of Environmental Science and Policy, George Mason University, Fairfax, VA, USA A. A. Aguirre Smithsonian-Mason School of Conservation, Front Royal, VA, USA 123 Bull Environ Contam Toxicol (2013) 91:645–651 DOI 10.1007/s00128-013-1114-4