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Temporal Mercury Dynamics and Diet Composition in the Mimic Shiner
Author(s) -
Gorski Patrick R.,
Lathrop Richard C.,
Hill Susan D.,
Herrin Russell T.
Publication year - 1999
Publication title -
transactions of the american fisheries society
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.696
H-Index - 86
eISSN - 1548-8659
pISSN - 0002-8487
DOI - 10.1577/1548-8659(1999)128<0701:tmdadc>2.0.co;2
Subject(s) - daphnia , zooplankton , biology , mercury (programming language) , notropis , zoology , ecology , fish <actinopterygii> , fishery , computer science , programming language
Changes in total mercury concentration (T‐Hg), diet, and growth were monitored in three age‐classes and four cohorts of mimic shiners Notropis volucellus throughout the ice‐free season of 1995 and in early May 1996 and 1997 in Devils Lake, Wisconsin. All age‐classes of fish fed exclusively on Daphnia in early spring and late fall but had a mixed diet during the summer consisting of zooplankton, other invertebrates, and filamentous algae. Concentration of methyl Hg in Daphnia varied during the summer. Concentration of T‐Hg in age‐1 fish also varied during the summer, but all age‐classes increased in T‐Hg concentration during winter. Body burden increased steadily throughout the year for all age‐classes and cohorts. Each successively older age‐class of fish had increasingly higher concentrations of T‐Hg and body burdens. The T‐Hg concentration and body burden were significantly different between cohorts in early spring for age‐1 and age‐2 fish. Differences between cohorts corresponded to differences in Hg concentrations in the water and Daphnia during the cohort's year of birth. Our results suggest that small planktivorous fish are a useful sentinel for monitoring short‐term changes in the availability of Hg in lakes.