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Science 10 November 1972:
Vol. 178. no. 4061, pp. 636 - 639
DOI: 10.1126/science.178.4061.636
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Articles

Mercury Concentrations in Recent and Ninety-Year-Old Benthopelagic Fish

Richard T. Barber 1, Aiyasami Vijayakumar 1, and Ford A. Cross 2

1 Duke University Marine Laboratory, Beaufort, North Carolina 28516
2 National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, National Marine Fisheries Service, Atlantic Estuarine Fisheries Center, Beaufort 28516

Several species of bottom-dwelling fish from 2500 meters with similar feeding habits had mercury concentrations that differed by an order of magnitude. Within one species there was a correlation between size and concentration, with the larger individuals having mercury concentrations as high as 0.8 part per million (wet weight). The mercury content of the water in the deep-ocean habitat of these fish appears not to determine the mercury content of a particular fish; species-specific factors and size do appear to determine this concentration. The species-specific variation between the recent fish also existed between the same two species in specimens collected 90 years ago from a depth of 2000 meters, and a 90-year-old specimen fit closely the size-concentration regression curve for nine recent individuals of the same species.


THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
Mercury concentrations in Pacific hake, Merluccius productus (Ayres), as a function of length and latitude.
N. Cutshall, Naidu JR, and W. Pearcy (1978)
Science 200, 1489-1491
   Abstract »    PDF »
Heavy Metal Concentrations in Museum Fish Specimens: Effects of Preservatives and Time.
R. H. Gibbs Jr., E. Jarosewich, and H. L. Windom (1974)
Science 184, 475-477
   Abstract »    PDF »


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