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Methylmercury Concentrations Found in Wild and Farm‐raised Paddlefish
Author(s) -
DASGUPTA S.,
ONDERS R. J.,
GUNDERSON D. T.,
MIMS S. D.
Publication year - 2004
Publication title -
journal of food science
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.772
H-Index - 150
eISSN - 1750-3841
pISSN - 0022-1147
DOI - 10.1111/j.1365-2621.2004.tb15502.x
Subject(s) - methylmercury , fishery , catfish , food and drug administration , aquaculture , mercury (programming language) , fish <actinopterygii> , environmental science , flesh , biology , toxicology , ecology , bioaccumulation , computer science , pharmacology , programming language
Paddlefish ( Polyodon spathula ) were collected from 4 sites in Kentucky: the Ohio River, Lake Cumberland, and 2 aquaculture sources (private reservoir and catfish ponds). They were tested for methylmer‐cury concentrations in their flesh. Paddlefish from all sources had methylmercury levels below the 1 part per million Food and Drug Administration‐mandated action limit for seafood. However, using the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency reference dose for methylmercury, only paddlefish from the Ohio River exceeded the reference dose for unrestricted consumption. Some Ohio River and Lake Cumberland paddlefish had higher‐than‐average methylmercury concentrations, whereas aquacultured paddlefish had low concentrations of methylm‐ercury. There was a direct proportionality between fish age and methylmercury concentration; older paddlefish tended to have higher amounts of methylmercury in their meat.