SREL Reprint #2606

Metal levels in fish from the Savannah River: potential hazards to fish and other receptors

Joanna Burger1,2, Karen E Gaines3, C. Shane Boring1,2, Warren L. Stephens3, Joel Snodgrass2,4,
Carline Dixon2, Michael McMahon2, Sheila Shukla2, Tara Shukla2, and Michael Gochfeld2,5

1Division of Life Sciences, Nelson Biological Laboratory, Rutgers University, Piscataway, New Jersey 08854-8082
2 Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences Institute and Consortium for Risk Evaluation with Stakeholder Participation, (CRESP), Piscataway, New Jersey 08854
3Savannah River Ecology Laboratory, University of Georgia, PO Drawer E, Aiken, South Carolina 29802
4 Department of Biological Sciences, Towson University, Towson, Maryland 21252
5Environmental and Community Medicine, UMDNJ-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, Piscataway,
New Jersey 08854

Abstract: Fish are ideal indicators of heavy metal contamination in aquatic systems because they occupy different trophic levels and are different sizes and ages. In this paper, we report concentrations of arsenic, cadmium, chromium, copper, lead, manganese, strontium88 and mercury in the muscle of 11 species of fish from the Savannah River near the Savannah River Site. We test the hypotheses that there are no locational, species, or trophic-level differences in contaminant levels. There were significant species differences for all metals; higher-trophic-level fish generally had higher levels of arsenic, chromium, and copper. There were relatively few locational differences, and where there were such differences, they were small. The relationships between body weight and contaminant levels were generally positive, except for strontium, where there was a negative correlation for bowfin (Amia calva), bass (Micropterus salmoides), yellow perch (Perca flavescens), and shellcracker (Lepomis microlophus) and no relationship for the other species. The levels of most metals were similar to, or lower than, those for the United States generally, and the levels of metals in fish from the Savannah River do not appear to pose a health threat to the fish themselves or to higher-order consumers, based on levels known to cause effects.

SREL Reprint #2606

Burger, J., K. F. Gaines, C. S. Boring, W. L. Stephens, J. Snodgrass, C. Dixon, M. McMahon, S. Shukla, T. Shukla, and M. Gochfeld. 2002. Metal levels in fish from the Savannah River: potential hazards to fish and other receptors. Environmental Research Section A. 89:85-97.

This information was provided by the University of Georgia's Savannah River Ecology Laboratory (srel.uga.edu).