Total and organic mercury in Barents sea pelagic fish

Journal Article · Wed Nov 01 04:00:00 EST 1995 · Bulletin of Environmental Contamination and Toxicology

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00203752· OSTI ID:135896

Joiris, C R; Ali, I B; Tapia, G ^[1]

---

1. Free Univ. of Brussels (Belgium)

One of the main questions, when studying mercury levels in natural samples, is to define how far the measured concentrations correspond to natural- or background-levels or to actual contamination due to human activities. To establish background pristine levels of Hg in the marine environment, areas of very low human activities are often proposed. Arctic and Antarctic waters, together with deep oceans waters, are best suited and provide themselves for such studies. Barents Sea areas were used in this study, even if the existence of an important atmospheric transport of Hg probably caused an increase of Hg levels at a global scale. Instead of analyzing mercury from the very low concentrations in sea water, it is much easier to identify it from the higher concentrations which organisms, used as bioindicators, have built up in their tissues. By using these bioindicators to study the bioavailable fraction of the stable residues, one also integrates small scale temporal and spatial variations. Pelagic fish were used in this work to study the ecotoxicology of Hg in the Barents Sea. This study has been made possible due to recent access of the Barents Sea to western scientists and it is to serve as a complement to existing studies by the same team in the Greenland and Norwegian seas, and the southwestern part of the Barents Sea. 19 refs., 4 figs., 2 tabs.

• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE
• OSTI ID: 135896
• Journal Information: Bulletin of Environmental Contamination and Toxicology, Journal Name: Bulletin of Environmental Contamination and Toxicology Journal Issue: 5 Vol. 55; ISSN 0007-4861; ISSN BECTA6
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
56 BIOLOGY AND MEDICINE
APPLIED STUDIES
AQUATIC ORGANISMS
ARCTIC REGIONS
BIOLOGICAL INDICATORS
CONTAMINATION
ECOLOGICAL CONCENTRATION
FISHES
MERCURY