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Species of Anguilla as indicators of mercury in the coastal rivers and lakes of Victoria, Australia
Author(s) -
Beumer J. P.,
Bacher G. J.
Publication year - 1982
Publication title -
journal of fish biology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.672
H-Index - 115
eISSN - 1095-8649
pISSN - 0022-1112
DOI - 10.1111/j.1095-8649.1982.tb02826.x
Subject(s) - mercury (programming language) , biology , fishery , pollution , mercury pollution , ecology , computer science , programming language
Mercury concentrations in the axial muscle tissue of most (243) of the 254 Anguilla australis and most (20) of the 27 A. reinhardtii collected from 30 sites in coastal rivers and lakes in Victoria, Australia, during 1975–78 were well below the Australian statutory health limit (0.5 μg g −1 wet weight). For A. australis the mean mercury concentration was 0.17 μg g −1 (±0.16 s.d. , range 0.01–1.60 μg g −1 ); for A. reinhardtii the values were 0.37 ± 0.23 μg g −1 (range 0.12–1.10 μg g −1 ). Statistical analyses showed that variation in mercury concentration due to total length accounted for only 13% of the total variation in A. australis and 2% in A. reinhardtii whereas locality accounted for 54 and 68%, respectively. Both species are thus considered suitable as indicators of mercury pollution.