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Mercury in Forage Fish from Mexico and Central America: Implications for Fish-Eating Birds

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Abstract

Mercury (Hg) is a global contaminant of aquatic food chains. Aquatic birds, such as the osprey (Pandion haliaetus), with migratory populations breeding in Canada and the northern United States and wintering in the Central and South America, can be exposed to mercury on both the breeding and wintering ranges. We examined Hg levels in 14 fish taxa from 24 osprey wintering sites identified from satellite telemetry. Our main goal was to determine whether fish species that feature in the diet of overwintering and resident fish-eating birds reached toxicity thresholds for Hg. Mean Hg levels in fish whole carcasses ranged from a high of 0.18 µg g−1 (wet weight) in Scomberomorus sierra to a low of 0.009 µg g−1 in Catostomidae. Average Hg levels were within published toxicity threshold values in forage fish for only two sites in Mexico (Puerto Vallarta and San Blas Estuary), and all were marine species, such as mackerel (Scomberomorus sierra), sea catfish (Ariopus spp.), and sardinas species (Centropomus spp.). Except for one sample from Nicaragua, sea catfish from Puerto Morazan, none of the fish from sites in Central America had Hg levels which exceeded the thresholds. Nonmetric multidimensional scaling revealed geographical differences in Hg levels with significant pairwise differences between sites along the Pacific Ocean (Mexico) versus the Bay of Campeche, partly due to differences in species composition of sampled fish (and species distributions). Hg increased with trophic level, as assessed by nitrogen stable isotope ratios (δ15N but not δ13C), in freshwater and marine, but not estuarine, environments. Hg concentrations in forage fish do not account for the elevated Hg reported for many osprey populations on the breeding grounds, thus primary sources of contamination appear to be in the north.

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Acknowledgments

Environment Canada through the Canadian Wildlife Service Latin America Program funded the collection of fish samples. Mercury analyses were funded by the Council for Economic Cooperation. For all their generous assistance in the field that made the field work in Mexico so successful, the authors thank Octavio Carretero and James Barr of Pronatura Veracruz, Manuel Gomez at Barra de Navidad, Armando Santiago at San Blas, and Jose Luis Rangel Salazar for all his help in Chiapas. The authors also thank Guy Savard and Della Bond for assistance in the lab. Lisa Pollock assisted with data analysis and preparation of tables and figures.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Environment Canada, Science and Technology Branch, Pacific Wildlife Research Centre, 5421 Robertson Road RR# 1, Delta, BC, V4K3N2, Canada

    John E. Elliott & Sandi Lee

  2. Aquila Conservation & Environment Consulting, 75 Albert Street, Suite 300, Ottawa, ON, K1P 5E7, Canada

    David A. Kirk

  3. McGill University, Sainte-Anne de Bellevue, PQ, H9X 3V9, Canada

    Kyle H. Elliott

  4. Environment Canada, Science and Technology Branch, National Wildlife Research Centre, Ottawa, ON, K1A 0H3, Canada

    Jessica Dorzinsky & Tony Scheuhammer

  5. Universidad Veracruzana, Xalapa, Veracruz, 91090, Mexico

    Ernesto Ruelas Inzunza

  6. Applied Animal Biology, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada

    John E. Elliott & Kimberly M. T. Cheng

  7. Environment Canada, Science and Technology Branch, 201–401 Burrard Street, Vancouver, BC, V6C 3S5, Canada

    Patrick Shaw

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  1. John E. Elliott
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Correspondence to John E. Elliott.

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Elliott, J.E., Kirk, D.A., Elliott, K.H. et al. Mercury in Forage Fish from Mexico and Central America: Implications for Fish-Eating Birds. Arch Environ Contam Toxicol 69, 375–389 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00244-015-0188-x

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