IP05 Mercury Bioaccumulation and Remediation of Mercury-Contaminated Systems
B113 & B114
8:00 AM - 12:00 PM, Tuesday
(IP041) Total mercury bioaccumulation in four groups of apex predator fish in the Gulf of California.
Cadena-Cardenas, L1, Garcia-Hernandez, J2, Marquez-Farias, F3, Betancourt-Lozano, M4, Villegas-Alvarez, M5, 1 Centro de investigacion en Alimentacion y Desarrollo A.C. Unidad Guaymas, Guaymas, Sonora, Mexico2 Centro de investigacion en Alimentacion y Desarrollo A.C. Unidad Guaymas, Guaymas, Sonora, Mexico3 Centro Regional de Investigacion Pesquera de Guaymas (INP), Guaymas, Sonora, Mexico4 Centro de investigacion en Alimentacion y Desarrollo A.C. Unidad Mazatlan, Mazatlan, Sinaloa, Mexico5 Centro de investigacion en Alimentacion y Desarrollo A.C. Unidad Guaymas, Guaymas, Sonora, Mexico
ABSTRACT- The interest of mercury contamination has increased in the last decade. This element is present in the organisms due to bioaccumulation and biomagnification processes occurring in the food chain . In the Gulf of California there are still large fish predators such as sharks, rays, groupers and sport fishes which are subject to grater bioaccumulation of Hg in their tissues. Elevated levels at this metal could cause physiological problems in the fish and are of great concern for human consumers, since these are all commercial fish. The aim of the current study is to investigate the levels of total Hg in trade fish species. Puerto Peñasco, El Choyudo, Loreto, La Paz, Los Cabos and Mazatlan, along the coast of Gulf of California were visited to get 312 samples of sharks, rays and sport fishing species. The tissues collect for each organisms were muscle, liver, gills and stomach contents. Total, interdorsal and precaudal length were taken for every specimen. In the case of the rays the disc width was the principal measure. Four kind of groups, Sharks, Rays, Groupers and Sport fish were separated to eliminated differences between growth, age, and its etiologies. A microwave system and AA spectrophotometer adapted with cold vapor, were used to prepare and determine the total mercury concentration in the samples following a modified 7471 EPA method. The ratio of Hg concentration in muscle and stomach contents will be compared between the different groups. Results show that sharks are the group with the highest concentration of Hg in muscle tissue followed by sport fishing species. The data suggested that food habits and intrinsic physiological characteristics determined the elevated concentrations found in the sharks group.
Key words: apex predators fishes, Sharks, Gulf of California , Mercury bioaccumulation