In the Northern coast of Rio de Janeiro State is located the major urban centers of the oil and gas industry of Brazil. The intense urbanization in recent decades caused an increase in human use of the coastal areas, which is constantly impacted by agricultural, industrial and wastewater discharges. Franciscana dolphin (Pontoporia blainvillei) is a small cetacean that inhabits coastal regions down to a 30 m depth. This species is considered the most threatened cetacean in the Western South Atlantic Ocean. This study investigated the levels of 52 PCB congeners and 9 PBDE congeners in liver of nine individuals found stranded or accidentally caught between 2011 and 2012 in the Northern coast of Rio de Janeiro. PCB mean levels ranged from 208 to 5543 ng g⁻¹ lw and PBDEs mean concentrations varied between 13.84 and 36.94 ng g⁻¹ lw. Contamination patterns suggest the previous use of Aroclor 1254, 1260 and penta-BDE mixtures in Brazil. While still few studies have assessed the organic contamination in cetaceans from the Southern Hemisphere, including Brazil, the levels found in this study could represent a health risk to these endangered species.

Noroviruses are the most common cause of gastroenteritis outbreaks in humans and bivalve shellfish consumption is a recognized route of infection. Our aim was to detect and characterize norovirus in bivalves from a coastal city of Brazil. Nucleic acid was extracted from the bivalve's digestive tissue concentrates using magnetic beads. From March 2018 to June 2019, 77 samples were screened using quantitative RT-PCR. Noroviruses were detected in 41.5%, with the GII being the most prevalent (37.7%). The highest viral load was 3.5 × 106 and 2.5 × 105 GC/g in oysters and mussels, respectively. PMA-treatment demonstrated that a large fraction of the detected norovirus corresponded to non-infectious particles. Genetic characterization showed the circulation of the GII.2[P16] and GII.4[P4] genotypes. Norovirus detection in bivalves reflects the anthropogenic impact on marine environment and serves as an early warning for the food-borne disease outbreaks resulting from the consumption of contaminated molluscs.

Assessment of marine debris ingestion by sea turtles is important, especially to ensure their survival. From January to December 2011, 23 specimens of five species of sea turtles were found dead or dying after being rehabilitated, along the coast of the municipality of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. To detect the presence of marine debris in the digestive tract of these turtles, we conducted a postmortem examination from the esophagus until the distal portion of the large intestine for each specimen. Of the total number of turtles, 39% had ingested marine debris such as soft plastic, hard plastic, metal, polyethylene terephthalate (PET) bottle caps, human hair, tampons, and latex condoms. Five of the seven sea turtles species are found along the Brazilian coast, where they feed and breed. A large number of animals are exposed to various kinds of threats, including debris ingestion.

Non-indigenous species (NIS) can cause substantial change in ecosystems and as marine invasives they can become a major threat to coastal and subtidal habitats. In September 2017 previously unknown and apparently NIS soft corals were detected on a shallow subtidal tropical rocky reef at Ilha Grande Bay, southeast Brazil. The present study aims to identify the species, quantify their distribution, abundance, and their interactions with native species. The most abundant NIS belonged to the recently described genus Sansibia (family Xeniidae) and the less common species was identified as Clavularia cf. viridis (family Clavulariidae). They were found along 170 m of shoreline at all depths where hard substrate was available. Sansibia sp. dominated deeper communities, associated positively with some macroalgal and negatively with the zoantharian Palythoa caribaeorum, which probably provided greater biotic resistance to invasion. Both species are of Indo-Pacific origin and typical of those ornamentals found in the aquarium trade.

The objective of this study was to evaluate the burden of environmental pollution by Polychlorinated Biphenyls (PCBs) and Organochlorine Pesticides (OCs) in two localities of Rio de Janeiro coast, through the determination of these levels in specimens of mullets and croakers collected from May to August 2008, at Guanabara Bay (GB) and from Araújo Island (AI), at Paraty Bay. Twenty three organochlorine pollutants were detected in croakers at GB and twenty in mullets and all PCBs congeners investigated in the study were present in the two species. Ratio ∑DDT/∑PCB of 1.4 shows an important contribution of agricultural residues in GB and p,p′-DDE/∑DDT of 0.1 demonstrates a reintroduction of DDT. Consumption of mullet may represent a risk to the health of fishermen families from GB, with average and maximum estimated daily intake of ∑DDT of 9.012μg/kg p.c. and 26,174μg/kg p.c., representing 45% and 131% of ADI established by WHO.