Accumulation of mercury in fish

Conference · Mon Jul 01 04:00:00 EDT 1974

OSTI ID:4054501

Kraemer, H J; Neidhart, B; Vogt, J R; Meyer, W ^[1]

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1. eds.

In model experiments the direct uptake (excluding the food chain) of different dissolved mercury compounds by female species of Poecilia reticulata was investigated using the radiochemical tracer method. Hg-203 labelled Hg(NO$sub 3$$)$$sub 2$ and CH$sub 3$HgCl were dissolved in deionized water resulting in concentrations of 0.1/1/5/10 and 20 ng Hg/ml H$sub 2$O. The fish were measured in vivo using a 3'' x 3'' NaI(Tl) well-type-detector. The experiments showed, that the accumulation rate (ng Hg/g/sub fi/. d) depends very much on the chemical form and the concentration of the dissolved Hg-compound. The accumulation in a CH$sub 3$HgCl-solution is about four times as fast as in a Hg(NO$sub 3$$)$$sub 2$$sup -$ solution. In the presence of complexing agents the accumulation rates decrease whereas the accumulation rates increase with increasing Hg-concentration in the water. The release of incorporated methylmercury has a half life of about 69 days. For inorganic mercury a two step mechanism has been found with half lives of 4 days and 68 days, respectively. The relative amount of mercury released in the second step increases with increasing time of incorporation. This indicates the methylation of inorganic mercury in the fish.

• Research Organization: Technische Hochschule, Darmstadt, Ger.; Missouri Univ., Columbia (USA). Coll. of Engineering
• NSA Number: NSA-33-023331
• OSTI ID: 4054501
• Report Number(s): CONF-740701--
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

*FISHES-- CONTAMINATION
*MERCURY-- BUILDUP
520200* --Environmental Sciences
Aquatic--Chemicals Monitoring & Transport
BIOLOGICAL HALF-LIFE
BIOLOGICAL MODELS
LABELLED COMPOUNDS
MERCURY 203
METHYLATION
N44700* --Environmental & Earth Sciences--Chemical Effluents
TRACER TECHNIQUES