PARENT SESSION
PM9 - Arsenic Fate & Effects
Monday, 18 November 2002
8:00 AM to 6:30 PM
Exhibit Hall
(P288) Bioaccumulation of arsenic in marine fish and invertebrates from Alaska and California.
Meador, James*,1, Ernest, Don1, Kagley, Anna1, 1 NOAA Fisheries, Seattle, WA, USA
ABSTRACT- Past studies determined that concentrations of arsenic in the liver of flathead sole from Alaska where generally higher than those found in fish from other locations. A study was conducted to examine arsenic concentrations and patterns of bioaccumulation in fish and potential prey species from two geographic locations. Flathead sole were collected from 4 sites in the Gulf of Alaska and white croaker and English sole were collected from 6 sites in California. Bioaccumulation factors were generally much higher in flathead sole and English sole; however, the amount of arsenic available for uptake (bioavailable fraction) from sediment and invertebrates may have been important in determining tissue concentrations. Potential prey species from each site were also examined and found to contain high concentrations of arsenic. In California, the sites with the lowest sediment concentrations of arsenic, total organic carbon, and acid volatile sulfides contained invertebrates with the highest tissue concentrations. Even though invertebrates from several of the California sites exhibited much higher concentrations of arsenic than invertebrates from the Alaska sites, liver and muscle from flathead sole from Alaska usually exhibited higher concentrations than fish from the California sites. When concentrations of arsenic in liver were plotted against concentrations of arsenic in sediment normalized to acid volatile sulfide (AVS) levels, a very high correlation was obtained. This suggests that AVS, or some factor correlated to AVS, may have been responsible for controlling arsenic bioaccumulation in these fish species.
Key words: arsenic, bioaccumulation, AVS, fish