## 3 Results
### Quantification of Hg in Erythrocytes of Loggerhead Turtles  
The concentration of Hg in seawater samples and in 100 \(\upmu\)L samples of RBCs was determined by atomic adsorption (see details above). The background Hg-T concentrations in control seawater was \(0.0032\pm 0.001\) mg L\({}^{-1}\) (0.00323 ppm), whereas the background Hg-T concentrations in RBCs (before the bioassay) were \(0.031\pm 0.011\) mg L\({}^{-1}\) on average. After the bioassay, at 12 h, the RBCs exposed to concentration of 1 mg L\({}^{-1}\) (1 ppm) had an average Hg-T concentration of \(0.31\pm 0.10\) mg L\({}^{-1}\) and those exposed to 5 mg L\({}^{-1}\) (5 ppm) contained \(2.18\pm 0.77\) mg L\({}^{-1}\). These results demonstrate the high affinity of RBCs for Hg accumulation, due to their great capacity to retain it in cell membranes [49].  
\begin{table}
\begin{tabular}{c c c c} \hline \hline
**ID of Turtles** & **Weight (Kg)** & **SCL (cm)** & **ACL (cm)** \\ \hline UJTL-CC1 & 3.0 & 31 & 28 \\ UJTL-CC3 & 2.9 & 30 & 28 \\ UJTL-CC5 & 2.6 & 29 & 24 \\ UJTL-CC7 & 2.3 & 25 & 22 \\ UJTL-CC8 & 3.1 & 32 & 29 \\ \hline \hline \end{tabular}
\end{table}
Table 1: Body size of the f specimens of loggerhead sea turtles sampled for erythrocytes, identification number, live weight, Straight Carapace Length (SCL), and Curved Cap Width (ACL).  
\begin{table}
\begin{tabular}{c c c c c c} \hline \hline  & \multicolumn{4}{c}{**HEMOGRAM**} \\ \hline
**Variable** & **Mean** & **SD** & **Min** & **Max** & **Reference** & **Unit** \\ \hline
**ERYTHROCYTES** & 1.42 & 0.13 & 1.21 & 1.61 & 1.60–70.0 & \(10^{5}\) Cells/\(\upmu\)L \\
**HEMOGLOBIN** & 3 & 0.59 & 2.1 & 3.7 & 3.9–9.5 & g/L \\
**HEMATOCRIT** & 6.98 & 1.20 & 5 & 8.4 & 9.5–36.0 & (\%) \\
**M.V.C** & 488.5 & 49.97 & 413.2 & 560 & 257.1–1188 & Femtolitiers \\
**H.C.M.** & 210.2 & 30.37 & 174 & 247 & 157.7–216.3 & Picograms \\
**C.M.H.C.** & 43.2 & 5.91 & 37 & 54 & 24.1–32.4 & (g\%) \\
**PLASMATIC** & 9.74 & 1.23 & 8.5 & 12 & 1.2–5.0 & g/L \\
**PROTEIN** & 6.72 & 0.89 & 5.4 & 8 & 0.8–2.2 & g/L \\
**ALBUMIN** & 3.02 & 1.44 & 1.8 & 5.6 & 0.2–3.3 & g/L \\
**THROMBOCYTES** & 24 & 12.65 & 3 & 42 & & Cells/\(\upmu\)L \\
**LEUCOCYTES** & 1.83 & 0.14 & 1.59 & 1.99 & 1.760–23.60 & \(10^{3}\) Cells/\(\upmu\)L \\ HETEROPHILE & 42 & 2.37 & 38 & 45 & 14.8–91.6 & (\%) \\
**BASOPHILS** & 3.6 & 0.8 & 3 & 5 & 0–16 & (\%) \\
**EOSINOPHILS** & 3 & 1.09 & 2 & 5 & 0-13.7 & (\%) \\
**LYMPHOCYTES** & 45 & 3.03 & 41 & 49 & 17.2-90 & (\%) \\
**MONOCYTES** & 3.4 & 1.85 & 1 & 6 & 0-16.1 & (\%) \\
**AZUROPHILES** & 3 & 1.41 & 1 & 5 & 1-8 & (\%) \\ \hline \hline \multicolumn{4}{c}{**ABSOLUTE PARAMETERS**} \\ \hline
**LYMPHOCYTES** & 820 & 50 & 747 & 892 & 429.8–11034.3 & Cells/\(\upmu\)L \\
**HETEROPHILE** & 790 & 60 & 692 & 856 & 1308.1–8400.9 & Cells/\(\upmu\)L \\
**EOSINOPHILS** & 50 & 20 & 32 & 98 & 13.6–2580.2 & Cells/\(\upmu\)L \\
**MONOCYTES** & 60 & 40 & 18 & 117 & 7.2–2796.6 & Cells/\(\upmu\)L \\
**BASOPHILS** & 60 & 20 & 0.048 & 0.1 & 0.064–0.928 & \(10^{3}\)Cells/\(\upmu\)L \\
**AZUROPHILES** & 60 & 30 & 15.9 & 99.5 & 78.4–729.9 & Cells/\(\upmu\)L \\ \hline \hline \end{tabular}
\end{table}
Table 2: Blood parameters of captive loggerhead sea turtles from El Rodadero Aquarium, Santa Marta. SD = standard deviation (n = 5). Reference values taken from [PERSON] et al., and [PERSON] et al. [47; 48]. M.C.V.: medium corpuscular volume; H.C.M.: amount of hemoglobin per red blood cell; C.M.H.C.: mean corpuscular hemoglobin concentration.