Oil spill causes mass mortality of sea snakes in the Gulf of Oman.
Sci Total Environ
; 825: 154072, 2022 Jun 15.
Article
em En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-35217042
ABSTRACT
Oil spills in the marine environment inflict significant impacts on a wide diversity of marine fauna. Despite the abundance of literature describing these impacts on numerous species, no studies describe the impacts on sea snakes. In this study we report, for the first time, details of an oil spill which caused mass mortality of sea snakes. In this study, 39 sea snake mortalities from the Gulf of Oman, in particular, the coast of Kalba, Sharjah, UAE, were examined. The investigated sea snakes belong to four different species (Hydrophis platurus, H. lapemoides, H. spiralis and H. ornatus). The majority (84.6%) of sea snakes were observed to have oil covering 75-100% of their bodies. The majority (91.4%) of sea snakes were also observed with oil covering their snouts and eyes. A large proportion (25.8, 41.4 and 34.5%) of sea snakes were observed with oil in their mouth, esophagus and stomach.
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Base de dados:
MEDLINE
Assunto principal:
Poluição por Petróleo
/
Hydrophiidae
Idioma:
En
Ano de publicação:
2022
Tipo de documento:
Article