The California Lifestyle: Contaminants and Consequences for Bottlenose Dolphins

The bottlenose dolphin is the most common cetacean species in the near-shore waters of southern California.  The distribution of these dolphins coincides with regions plagued by increasingly polluted coastal marine waters. This spatial overlap in dolphin habitat and human pollution culminates in dolphins (and humans) being chronically exposed (directly and indirectly) to a host of residential, agricultural, and industrial contaminants. A review of contaminant levels, as measured from the blubber of wild dolphins off southern California, will be presented and discussed within the context of exploring potential consequences arising from such exposures.