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Toxicity of dietary methylmercury to fish: Derivation of ecologically meaningful threshold concentrations
Author(s) -
Depew David C.,
Basu Niladri,
Burgess Neil M.,
Campbell Linda M.,
Devlin Ed W.,
Drevnick Paul E.,
Hammerschmidt Chad R.,
Murphy Cheryl A.,
Sandheinrich Mark B.,
Wiener James G.
Publication year - 2012
Publication title -
environmental toxicology and chemistry
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.1
H-Index - 171
eISSN - 1552-8618
pISSN - 0730-7268
DOI - 10.1002/etc.1859
Subject(s) - methylmercury , adverse effect , fish <actinopterygii> , toxicity , no observed adverse effect level , biology , ecotoxicology , contamination , toxicology , zoology , environmental chemistry , chemistry , ecology , bioaccumulation , fishery , organic chemistry , pharmacology
Threshold concentrations associated with adverse effects of dietary exposure to methylmercury (MeHg) were derived from published results of laboratory studies on a variety of fish species. Adverse effects related to mortality were uncommon, whereas adverse effects related to growth occurred only at dietary MeHg concentrations exceeding 2.5 µg g −1 wet weight. Adverse effects on behavior of fish had a wide range of effective dietary concentrations, but generally occurred above 0.5 µg g −1 wet weight. In contrast, effects on reproduction and other subclinical endpoints occurred at dietary concentrations that were much lower (<0.2 µg g −1 wet wt). Field studies generally lack information on dietary MeHg exposure, yet available data indicate that comparable adverse effects have been observed in wild fish in environments corresponding to high and low MeHg contamination of food webs and are in agreement with the threshold concentrations derived here from laboratory studies. These thresholds indicate that while differences in species sensitivity to MeHg exposure appear considerable, chronic dietary exposure to low concentrations of MeHg may have significant adverse effects on wild fish populations but remain little studied compared to concentrations in mammals or birds. Environ. Toxicol. Chem. 2012; 31: 1536–1547. © 2012 SETAC