Organochlorine residues in the Florida manatee, Trichechus manatus latirostris

Forty-five tissue samples, consisting of 15 liver samples, 19 kidney samples and 11 blubber samples from the Florida manatee, Trichechus manatus latirostris, were analysed using gas chromatography and combined gas chromatography-mass spectrometry for a variety of chlorinated hydrocarbons. Pesticides (o,p-DDT, o,p-DDD, hexachlorobenzene and lindane) were detected in all three tissues, but they were found most frequently in the liver and kidney. However, due to the low frequency of observed pesticides, their concentrations could not be related to age, sex, length or the geographical location where the manatee carcasses were recovered. Compared to most manatees in the study, one female perinatal manatee born in captivity had elevated concentrations of lindane in the liver and o,p-DDD in the kidney, suggesting that the pesticides found in this animal were transferred from the mother prior to birth.