TITLE:
Physical Abnormalities and Heavy Metal Accumulation in Embryos of Marine Turtle Chelonia mydas agassizii—Colola Beach, Southern Mexico
AUTHORS:
Ligia Pérez-Cruz, Alma Lilia Fuentes-Farías, Araxi O. Urrutia, Esperanza Meléndez-Herrera, Rocío Montoya-Pérez, Gabriel Gutiérrez-Ospina, Jaime Urrutia-Fucugauchi
KEYWORDS:
Colola Beach, Southern Mexico Continental Margin, Phenotypic and Craniofacial Abnormalities, Heavy Metals, Marine Turtles
JOURNAL NAME:
Advances in Bioscience and Biotechnology,
Vol.17 No.11,
November
11,
2026
ABSTRACT: Results of a study of heavy metal concentrations in malformed embryos of marine turtle Chelonia mydas agassizii from the Colola nesting beach are presented. Finding malformed embryos of marine turtles from artificial nests is increasingly frequent along the Pacific Ocean coast in southern Mexico. The beaches are being affected by coastal developments and increasing activities of extractive mining industries. We analyzed heavy metal concentrations in muscle, carapace and bowel samples dissected from twelve non-hatched embryos recovered from ten artificial nests. The trace element concentrations were determined by inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry. Mercury was determined by cold vapor atomic absorption spectrometry. The metals found with highest concentrations among samples were iron, zinc, aluminum and barium, followed by manganese, copper, chromium, vanadium, nickel, lead, cobalt, cadmium, indium, bismuth and mercury. Our results show coincidental occurrences of physical malformations with presence of heavy metals in tissues of C. mydas agassizii embryos. The results show individual embryos differed in their levels of heavy metal accumulation and did not accumulate uniformly in the tissues. The study provides critical baseline ecotoxicological data for sea turtle conservation management along the Pacific coast of Mexico.