Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

A Comparison Of The Bioaccumulation Potential Of Mercury And Polychlorinated Biphenyls In Goldfish (Carassius Auratus), Jiajia Li, Ken G. Drouillard, Brian Braunfireun, Douglass G. Haffner

Great Lakes Institute for Environmental Research Publications

Both mercury (Hg) and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) demonstrate food web biomagnification in aquatic ecosystems, yet their toxicokinetics have not been simultaneously contrasted within a common fish species. This study quantifies uptake and elimination rates of Hg and PCBs in goldfish. Fish were exposed to contaminated food containing PCBs and Hg to determine dietary chemical assimilation efficiencies (AEs) and elimination coefficients (k_tot). To test first-order kinetics, three exposure regimes were established by varying the proportion of contaminated fish incorporated into the food. Dietary AEs were 98 ± 10, 75 ± 12, and 40 ± 9% for MeHg, THg, and …