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ASTM Selected Technical Papers
Water Quality Parameters
By
S Barabas
S Barabas
1
Head
, Analytical Methods Research Section,
Canada Centre for Inland Waters
,
Burlington, Ontario,
Canada
, general chairman
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ISBN-10:
0-8031-5526-3
ISBN:
978-0-8031-5526-8
No. of Pages:
590
Publisher:
ASTM International
Publication date:
1975

An uptake rate of 1.10 ng mercury (Hg) per h per fish was obtained when small golden shiners, Notemigonus crysoleucus, with a body weight of 2.5 g were exposed to water at 13°C containing 0.1 × 10-3 µg Hg/ml. Results on methyl mercury uptake from water by fish ranging in body weight from 2 to 120 g demonstrate that smaller fish accumulate mercury in their body tissues at a faster rate per unit weight of body tissue than larger fish. Mercury uptake followed first order mass action kinetics in which the whole fish was treated as a single uptake compartment. The acquired body burdens of mercury in the test fish varied proportionately with the 0.76 power of the body weight. The observed body weight exponent of 0.76 is similar to the function one would expect if uptake rate increased in proportion to metabolic rate. Therefore, factors such as water temperature and fish activity may also effect uptake of methyl mercury from water due to their direct effect on metabolic rate.

1.
Jernelöv
,
A.
and
Lann
,
H.
,
Oikos (Copenhagen)
, Vol.
22
,
1971
, pp. 403–406.
2.
Zitko
,
V.
,
Finlayson
,
B. J.
,
Wildish
,
D. J.
,
Anderson
,
J. M.
, and
Kohler
,
A. C.
,
Journal of the Fisheries Research Board of Canada
 0015-296X, Vol.
28
,
1971
, pp. 1285–1291.
3.
Johnels
,
A. G.
,
Westermark
,
T.
,
Berg
,
N.
,
Persson
,
P. I.
, and
Sjoslrand
,
B.
,
Oikos
 0030-1299, Vol.
18
,
1967
, p. 323.
4.
Bache
,
C. A.
,
Gutenmann
,
W. H.
, and
Lisk
,
D. J.
,
Science
 1095-9203, Vol.
172
,
1971
, pp. 951–952.
5.
Gillespie
,
D. C.
and
Scott
,
D. P.
,
Journal of the Fisheries Research Board of Canada
 0015-296X, Vol.
28
,
1971
, pp. 1807–1808.
6.
MacLeod
,
J. C.
and
Pessah
,
E.
,
Journal of the Fisheries Research Board of Canada
 0015-296X, Vol.
30
,
1973
, pp. 485–492.
7.
Lockhart
,
W. L.
,
Uthe
,
J. F.
,
Kenney
,
A. R.
, and
Mehrle
,
P. M.
,
Journal of the Fisheries Research Board of Canada
 0015-296X, Vol.
29
,
1972
, pp. 1519–1523.
8.
Weisbart
,
Melvin
,
Canadian Journal of Zoology
 0008-4301, Vol.
51
,
1973
, pp. 143–150.
9.
Burrows
,
W. D.
and
Krenkel
,
P. A.
,
Environmental Science and Technology
 0013-936X, Vol.
7
,
1973
, pp. 1127-1130.
10.
Scott
,
D. P.
and
Armstrong
,
F. A. J.
,
Journal of the Fisheries Research Board of Canada
 0015-296X, Vol.
29
,
1972
, pp. 1685–1690.
11.
Winberg
,
G. C.
, “
Rate of Metabolism and Food Requirements of Fishes
,”
Fisheries Research Board of Canada
, Translation Series No. 194,
1960
, published originally in Nauchnye Trudy Belorusskovo Gosudarstvennovo Universitete imeni V. I. Lenina, Minsk, 1956.
12.
Shelton
,
G.
, “
The Regulation of Breathing
,”
Fish Physiology
, Vol.
4
,
Hoar
W. S.
and
Randall
D. J.
, Eds.,
Academic Press
,
New York and London
,
1970
.
13.
Ruotula
, private communication.
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