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Fate of mercury accumulated by blowflies feeding on fish carcasses
Author(s) -
Sarica José,
Amyot Marc,
Bey Julien,
Hare Landis
Publication year - 2005
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 - 10.1897/04-054r.1
Subject(s) - methylmercury , mercury (programming language) , invertebrate , biology , larva , zoology , fish <actinopterygii> , calliphoridae , fishery , ecology , environmental chemistry , chemistry , bioaccumulation , computer science , programming language
Because fish represent the principal methylmercury (MeHg) pool in the water column of freshwater systems, MeHg released from their carcasses could represent an important flux to the environment. Necrophagous invertebrates such as fly larvae can play an important role in this Hg recycling. We studied Hg accumulation by blowflies (Diptera, Calliphoridae) feeding on beached fish carcasses in the field. We found that the MeHg these flies accumulated as larvae is retained in their pupal stage but is eliminated by the adult following emergence. We conclude that calliphorids possess an efficient mechanism for excreting the MeHg that they accumulate from carcasses.