Mercury concentrations in edible tissues of Elasmobranchs, teleosts, crustaceans and molluscs from south-eastern Australian waters

Abstract

Mean concentrations of total mercury in the axial muscle tissues from 4 species of elasmobranchs (1.33-3.15 µg g^-1) and 14 species of teleosts (0.14-0.73µg g^-1) from waters deeper than 75 m were generally higher than the mean concentrations in 23 different species of elasmobranchs (0.13- 1.70 µg g^-1) and 30 different species of teleosts (0.01-0.29µg g^-1) from shallower waters outside Port Phillip Bay. In 5 of the 11 species of teleosts from Port Phillip Bay, which is shallow, almost landlocked and drains a largely urbanized catchment, mean concentrations were 0.39-0.63µg g^-; in the remaining 6 species, they were 0.04-0.27µg g^-1. Differences in the diets and the longevity of the species are discussed as possible explanations of the variations in the mercury concentrations.

Most of the results were similar to those from other studies undertaken on the same species collected from waters off Tasmania and New South Wales, but tended to be higher than the results for the same species collected from New Zealand waters. Mean concentrations of mercury in various soft tissues from eight species of molluscs were 0.01-0.11µg g^-1 and in abdominal and thoracic muscle tissues from three species of crustaceans were 0.03-0.13µg g^-1..