Abstract
Mercury (Hg) accumulation in fishes is a serious threat for food security because mercury induces dieseases. Here we studied the total mercury content in four species of Pacific salmon (pink, chum, sockeye and chinook), caught in the Sea of Okhotsk, the Bering Sea, and the Kuril oceanic waters. Results show that the lowest concentration of mercury was found in the pink salmon, and the highest was 5–6 times higher in sockeye. Hg concentrations exceed several times those in other species of Pacific salmon from the North Pacific
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Easton MDL, Luszniak D, Von der Geest E (2002) Preliminary examination of contaminant loadings in farmed salmon, wild salmon and commercial salmon feed. Chemosphere 46:1053–1074. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0045-6535(01)00136-9
Kelly BC, Ikonomou MG, Higgs DA, Oakes J, Dubetz C (2008) Mercury and other trace elements in farmed and wild salmon from British Columbia, Canada. Environ Toxicol Chem 27:1361. https://doi.org/10.1897/07-527.1
Khristoforova NK, Tsygankov VY, Boyarova MD, Lukyanova ON (2015a) Concentrations of trace elements in Pacific and Atlantic salmon. Oceanology 55:679–685. https://doi.org/10.1134/S0001437015050057
Khristoforova NK, Tsygankov VY, Boyarova MD, Lukyanova ON (2015b) Heavy metal contents in the pink salmon Oncorhynchus gorbuscha Walbaum, 1792 from Kuril oceanic waters during anadromous migration. Russ J Mar Biol 41:479–484. https://doi.org/10.1134/S1063074015060085
Khristoforova NK, Tsygankov VY, Lukyanova ON, Boyarova MD (2016) The Kuril Islands as a potential region for aquaculture: trace elements in chum salmon. Environ Pollut 213:727–731. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envpol.2016.03.027
Mason RP, Heyes D, Sveinsdottir A (2006) Methylmercury concentrations in fish from tidal waters of the Chesapeake Bay. Arch Environ Contam Toxicol 51:425–437. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00244-004-0230-x
Methodical instructions No. 08-47/167 (2004) Fish, seafood and non-fish species and products produced from them. The voltammetric method for measuring of the mass mercury concentration
Shuntov VP (2001) Biology of the far Eastern seas of Russia. TINRO-Center, Vladivostok
Shuntov VP, Temnykh OS (2011) Pacific salmon in marine and ocean ecosystems. TINRO Center, Vladivostok
Tsygankov VY, Lukyanova ON, Khristoforova NK (2016) The Sea of Okhotsk and the Bering Sea as the region of natural aquaculture: organochlorine pesticides in Pacific salmon. Mar Pollut Bull 113:69–74. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.marpolbul.2016.08.060
Acknowledgements
We thank our colleagues from Pacific Research Fisheries Centre (TINRO-Centre) for sampling collection during marine expeditions. We also thank Tatiana V. Yakunina for the correction of the English language of this article. This work was supported by the Russian Science Foundation (Project No. 14-50-00034).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Conflicts of interest
No conflicts of interest for any of the authors.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Khristoforova, N.K., Tsygankov, V.Y., Lukyanova, O.N. et al. High mercury bioaccumulation in Pacific salmons from the Sea of Okhotsk and the Bering Sea. Environ Chem Lett 16, 575–579 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10311-018-0704-0
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10311-018-0704-0