Blubber PCB concentrations in UK-stranded short-beaked common dolphins (Delphinus delphis) between July 1991 and December 2020.

This dataset contains data generated as part of the ChemPop NERC grant (NE/S000100/1) Marine Work Package aiming to determine the burdens and impacts of hazardous chemicals on cetaceans. The data were collected as part of the collaborative UK Cetacean Strandings Investigation Programme (CSIP) which has been running since 1990 and is funded by Defra and the Devolved Administrations. The stranded short-beaked common dolphins (Delphinus delphis) were located along the UK coastline, from July 1991 to December 2020. Included within the dataset are variables relating to where and when the animal stranded (National_Reference, Species, Date stranded, Latitude, Longitude, Location). The dataset also includes variables that were collected during post-mortem (PM) examination (Sex, Length, Age Group, Condition at PM, Cause of Death Category, Cause of Death Class, Body Weight, Girth, Dorsal blubber thickness, Lateral blubber thickness and Ventral blubber thickness). A Tissue variable is included to state which tissue underwent chemical analysis. There are also variables for each of the 25 PCB (polychlorinated biphenyls) congeners determined by Cefas using gas-chromatography electron capture detection (GC-ECD). For the PCB data there is a calculation for lipid percentage as the sum of the 25 congeners has been provided on a wet weight basis and a lipid weight basis.