A comparison of organochlorine and heavy metal contamination and effects in freshwater fish from the U.S. and Russian Arctic

Conference · Sun Dec 31 00:00:00 EST 1995

OSTI ID:211985

Allen-Gil, S M; Landers, D H ^[1]; Gubala, C P ^[2]; Curtis, L R ^[3]

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1. Environmental Protection Agency, Corvallis, OR (United States). Environmental Research Lab.
2. Utah State Univ., Logan, UT (United States)
3. East Tennessee State Univ., Johnson City, TN (United States)

Liver and muscle from grayling (Thymallus arcticus) and lake trout (Salvelinus namaycush) from four US Arctic lakes, and Arctic charr (Salvelinus alpinus), whitefish (Coregonus sp.) and burbot (Lola lota) from five lakes in the Taimyr Peninsula of the Russian Arctic were analyzed for heavy metal (As, Cu, Cd, Hg, Ni, Pb and Zn) and organochlorine content (DDTs, PCBs, HCHs, chlordanes). Although the Russian Arctic is home to two of the largest metal smelters in the world (Nickel and Norilsk), and is often considered a source for atmospheric pollutants to the North American Arctic, heavy metal burdens in fish collected along a transact northeast of the Norilsk smelter in Russia were not elevated relative to US Arctic fish. Sediment records from these lakes indicate that metal flux to the lakes has not increased in the post industrial era. Thus, metal concentrations in fish likely represent natural background concentrations for these areas. Likewise, levels of PCBs and DDTs were similar in US and Russian fish. Burbot collected south of the Norilsk smelter showed elevated levels of Hg, p,p{prime}-DDE, and PCBs 138 and 153 relative to other species collected in Russia and the US. The authors believe this is attributable to species differences in trophic positioning, rather than differences in total contaminant flux. There were no indications of reproductive impairment, as indicated by circulating sex steroid levels, in Russian fish. By contrast, a negative correlation was observed between both 17{beta}-estradiol and testosterone and liver Pb concentrations (R{sup 2} = 0.51--0.82) in Arctic graving from the US Arctic. These data suggest that long range atmospheric transport and deposition of anthropogenically-derived contaminants are probably not a significant stressor affecting aquatic food webs in these two Arctic regions.

• OSTI ID: 211985
• Report Number(s): CONF-9511137-; ISBN 1-880611-03-1; TRN: IM9617%%301
• Resource Relation: Conference: 2. Society of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry (SETAC) world conference, Vancouver (Canada), 5-9 Nov 1995; Other Information: PBD: 1995; Related Information: Is Part Of Second SETAC world congress (16. annual meeting): Abstract book. Global environmental protection: Science, politics, and common sense; PB: 378 p.
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
56 BIOLOGY AND MEDICINE
APPLIED STUDIES
USA
WATER POLLUTION
RUSSIAN FEDERATION
ARCTIC REGIONS
FISHES
SENSITIVITY
ARSENIC
BIOLOGICAL ACCUMULATION
LONG-RANGE TRANSPORT
COPPER
CADMIUM
MERCURY
NICKEL
LEAD
ZINC
POLYCHLORINATED BIPHENYLS
COMPARATIVE EVALUATIONS
GENETIC VARIABILITY
ECOLOGICAL CONCENTRATION