NEW SIGHTINGS OF YOUNG MOBULA MOBULAR IN MEDITERRANEAN SEA AND FIRST REPORT ON HEAVY METAL CONTENT IN THEIR TISSUES

Heavy metals have been detected in many Elasmobrach species, mainly focusing on mercury levels in muscle. To our knowledge no information is available concerning contaminants exposure in Mobula mobular, due to scarcity of samples. Mobula mobular is characterised by a completely different diet with respect to carnivorous Elasmobarch, being its main food item plackton. Present work reports about heavy metals levels in two young devil fishes collected in two different areas of Italy. First one was from Northern Adriatic, and was a newborn male; second one was a subadult male from eastern coastal Sicily. Each animal was dissected and different organs were collected and analysed using ICP-AOS technique. No conclusive speculation can be drowned from obtained results, due to the small sample size and to the lack of reference values for the species. Anyway obtained data are interesting because of the particular trophic level of the species and because they are the first report concerning pollutants exposure in this endangered species. The collection of additional samples and the following comparison with available toxicological data for other Elasmobrach species can in future times allow the risk assessment due to heavy metal exposure for the species. The research team welcomes all interested colleagues willing to share samples in order to create and implement a database concerning Mobula mobular.