Factors affecting mercury accumulation in fish in the upper michigan peninsula

Abstract

Fish were sampled from 35 drainage and seepage lakes in the upper Michigan peninsula and Wisconsin in conjunction with Phase II of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Eastern Lake Survey to explore the relationship between physicochemical characteristics of lakes and mercury concentrations in fish tissue. The lakes were selected using a stratified random design weighted for low pH to assess acidification effects on mercury bioaccumulation. Muscle tissue from yellow perch (Perca flavescens), northern pike (Esox lucius), white sucker (Catostomus commersoni) and largemouth bass (Micropterus salmoides) was analyzed for total and methylmercury. Differences in mercury concentrations were found between species, and methylmercury accounted for 99% of total mercury. Relationships were examined between tissue concentrations of mercury in yellow perch and lake physicochemical variables including pH, acid neutralizing capacity (ANC), calcium, conductivity, aluminum, total phosphorus, dissolved organic carbon, color, sulfate, lake area, lake depth, watershed area, Secchi depth and elevation. Mercury concentrations were negatively correlated with pH and ANC for both seepage and drainage lakes, but correlations with other water‐quality characteristics varied with lake type. Dissolved organic carbon had a negative correlation with fish mercury accumulation in seepage lakes, but not in drainage lakes. Mercury concentrations had a positive correlation with age, weight and length in yellow perch.

Methylmercury accumulation, histopathology effects, and cholinesterase activity alterations in medaka (Oryzias latipes) following sublethal exposure to methylmercury chloride

“…Similar distribution of MeHg is found in most internal tissues regardless of waterborne or dietary ingest. However, the MeHg contents in gills are much higher after waterborne exposure than dietary exposure (Grieb et al, 1990). This might explain the fact that very high level (64.4 g Hg/g) of MeHg was found in medaka gill exposed to 40 ng/mL of MeHg for 16 days (Fig.…”

Characteristics, functions, and applications of metallothionein in aquatic vertebrates

“…Methylmercury (MeHg) is the most toxic form of Hg, and almost all (95-99%) Hg in fish is MeHg (Grieb et al, 1990). Notably, the highest concentrations of MeHg are found in piscivorous fish and wildlife (Spry and Wiener, 1991).…”

Mercury in the Northern Crayfish, Orconectes virilis (Hagen), in New England, USA

“…Determining the environmental factors responsible for mercury levels observed within organisms remains elusive although several key parameters have been correlated with high mercury or methylmercury levels in fish. For example, increasing trophic position (Spry and Weiner, 1991;Jackson, 1998), body size (Scott and Armstrong, 1972;Scott, 1974;Wren et al, 1983), age (Simonin et al, 1994), dissolved organic carbon (DOC) concentration (Driscoll et al, 1995;Wiener and Spry, 1996), pH (Cope et al, 1990;Grieb et al, 1990;Haines et al, 1992), food web complexity (Futter, 1994;Wong et al, 1997;Chen et al, 2000), degree of flooding (Jackson, 1991;Johnston et al, 1991;McNicol et al, 1997), and percent of watershed with wetland habitats (Jackson, 1988;McMurty et al, 1989), have all been variously associated with mercury levels in fish or fish-eating birds and mammals.…”