Abstract
Total polychlorinated biphenyl concentrations (ΣPCBs) in whole fish were determined for 18 ripe female burbot Lota lota and 14 ripe male burbot from Great Slave Lake, a lake with no known point sources of PCBs. In addition, ΣPCBs were determined in both somatic tissue and gonads for a randomly selected subset of 5 females and 5 males. Mean ΣPCBs for females and males were 2.89 and 3.76 ng/g, respectively. Thus, males had 30 % greater ΣPCBs than females. Based on ΣPCB determinations for somatic tissue and gonads, ΣPCBs of females and males would be expected to decrease by 18 % and increase by 6 %, respectively, immediately after spawning due to the release of gametes. Results from a previous study in eastern Lake Erie indicated that males had 28 and 71 % greater ΣPCBs than females from populations of younger (ages 6–13 years) and older (ages 14–17 years) burbot, respectively. Thus, although younger burbot from Lake Erie had approximately 50 times greater ΣPCBs than Great Slave Lake burbot, the relative difference in ΣPCBs between the sexes was remarkably similar across both populations. Our results supported the contention that the widening of the difference in ΣPCBs between the sexes in older burbot from Lake Erie was attributable to a “hot spot” effect operating on older burbot because Lake Erie has received PCB point source loadings. Our results also supported the contention that male fish expend energy at a rate between 15 and 30 % greater than females. Eventually, these results will be useful in developing sex-specific bioenergetics models for fish.
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Acknowledgments
We thank Nicola Johnson, Morag McPherson, Sarah Elsasser, Sarah Olivier, Rick Walbourne, Barry Zajdlik, and Bruce Hanna for assisting with the capture of burbot from Great Slave Lake; Bill Edwards and Richard Kraus for determining ages of the burbot; Tim Desorcie, Lynn Ogilvie, and Justin Mychek-Londer for assisting with the homogenization of burbot tissue; Devi Haria and Sarah Stamann for assisting with the fish tissue extractions; and Holly Muir for reviewing the draft manuscript. Use of trade, product, or firm names does not imply endorsement by the United States Government. This article is Contribution 1833 of the United States Geological Survey Great Lakes Science Center.
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Madenjian, C.P., Stapanian, M.A., Cott, P.A. et al. Polychlorinated Biphenyl Concentrations of Burbot Lota lota From Great Slave Lake Are Very Low but Vary by Sex. Arch Environ Contam Toxicol 66, 529–537 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00244-014-0015-9
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00244-014-0015-9