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Authors

  • Ana Carolina Oliveira de Meirelles Associação de Pesquisa e Preservação de Ecossistemas Aquáticos – AQUASIS, SESC Iparana - Caucaia, Ceará.
  • Helen Maria Duarte do Rego Barros Associação de Pesquisa e Preservação de Ecossistemas Aquáticos – AQUASIS, SESC Iparana - Caucaia, Ceará.

Abstract

An adult male rough-toothed dolphin, Steno bredanensis, stranded alive on Poço da Draga Beach, Fortaleza, Ceará State, northeastern Brazil. The animal was unable to swim, was visibly emaciated, and died while being transported to the AQUASIS rehabilitation facilities. During the necropsy, two plastic bags and four pieces of sea sponges were found in the fore-stomach chamber, where the mucosa had several ulcers. The ingestion of plastic debris by dolphins is not well understood. They can eat it by mistake, since it resembles some of their prey species, or ingest it along with a prey. In Ceará State, the inappropriate disposal of solid wastes and urban effluents are major sources of pollution in the coastal zone. Urgent measures are required to minimize this threat to coastal marine mammals, such as legal mechanisms, enforcement and awareness campaigns.

Author Biographies

Ana Carolina Oliveira de Meirelles, Associação de Pesquisa e Preservação de Ecossistemas Aquáticos – AQUASIS, SESC Iparana - Caucaia, Ceará.

Possui Graduação em Ciências Biológicas pela Universidade Federal do Ceará e Mestrado em Bioecologia Aquática pela Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Norte. Atualmente é Coordenadora do Programa de Mamíferos Marinhos da Associação de Pesquisa e Preservação de Ecossistemas Aquáticos - AQUASIS, ONG sediada no Ceará.

Mais informações no Currículo Lattes.

Helen Maria Duarte do Rego Barros, Associação de Pesquisa e Preservação de Ecossistemas Aquáticos – AQUASIS, SESC Iparana - Caucaia, Ceará.

Licenciada e Bacharel em Ciências Biológicas pela Universidade Federal do Ceará e Mestre em Genética pela Universidade Federal de Pernambuco. Atualmente é estudante de doutorado do Programa de Pós-Graduação em Biologia Animal da Universidade Federal de Pernambuco.

Mais informações no Currículo Lattes.

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Published

2007-01-01

Issue

Vol. 20 No. 1 (2007)

Section

Short Communication

License

Copyright (c) 2007 Ana Carolina Oliveira de Meirelles, Helen Maria Duarte do Rego Barros

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

After the electronic publication of the manuscript, the authors are entitled, without any restriction, on its contents.

License Creative Commons Atribuição 4.0 Internacional - CC BY

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Authors are able to take on additional contracts separately, non-exclusive distribution of the version of the paper published in this journal (ex.: publish in institutional repository or as a book), with an acknowledgment of its initial publication in this journal.