Trend temporale della contaminazione da organoclorurati in esemplari di Stenella (Stenella Coeruleoalba) spiaggiati e free-ranging del mar Mediterraneo

Medíterranean cetaceans are known to accumulate very high kv9l1 -of xenobiotic contaminants, such as organochlorines (OCs). In 1990-1992, many striped dolphins (Stenella coeruleoalba) were affected-by a seyere Morbillivirus infection epidemic along the Medíterranean coasts. In that period, tje OC levels of stranded striped dolphin specimens resulted statistically higher than those found in specimens of all periods. Here we show that in blubber of stranded and in biopsies of free-ranging striped dolphins sampled in the Mediterranean Sea in the last years, the levels of some OCs (PCBs and DDTs) are very simitar to the levels found in the 1991-1993 period, despite regulatory control on their production and use in Mediterranean area.