Journal of Marine Science: Research & Development
Open Access

Research Article

Mercury Accumulation and the Mercury-PCB-Sex Interaction in Summer Flounder

¹US Geological Survey, Great Lakes Science Center, Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA

²Department of Marine and Coastal Sciences, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, New Jersey, USA

³US Geological Survey, Wisconsin Water Science Center, Middleton, Wisconsin, USA

*Corresponding Author:

Madenjian CP
US Geological Survey, Great Lakes Science Center
Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA
Tel: +7342147259
Fax: +7349948780; E-mail: cmadenjian@usgs.gov

Received Date: January 29, 2016; Accepted Date: March 21, 2016; Published Date: March 28, 2016

Citation: Madenjian CP, Jensen OP, Krabbenhoft DP, DeWild JF, Ogorek JM, et al. (2016) Mercury Accumulation and the Mercury-PCB-Sex Interaction in Summer Flounder. J Marine Sci Res Dev 6:188. doi: 10.4172/2155-9910.1000188

Copyright: © 2016 Madenjian CP, et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

Patterns in the relative differences in contaminant concentrations between the sexes of mature fish may reveal important behavioral and physiological differences between the sexes. We determined whole-fish total mercury (Hg) concentrations in 23 female summer flounder (Paralichthys dentatus) and 27 male summer flounder from New Jersey coastal waters. To estimate the change in Hg concentration due to release of eggs at spawning, Hg concentration in the somatic tissue and ovaries of 5 of the 23 female summer flounder were also determined. To ascertain whether most of the Hg in the summer flounder was methylmercury (MeHg), whole-fish MeHg concentrations were determined in all 50 summer flounder. Whole-fish Hg concentrations averaged 113 ng/g for females and 111 ng/g for males. Thus, females were 2% higher in Hg concentration than males, on average, but the difference was not statistically significant. Based on Hg determinations in the somatic tissue and ovaries, we predicted that Hg concentration of females would increase by 3.7%, on average, immediately after spawning due to release of eggs. On average, 92% of the Hg in the summer flounder was MeHg. To determine whether the effect of sex on Hg concentration was significantly different from the effect of sex on polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB) concentration, we paired our Hg determinations with PCB determinations from a previous study, and applied regression analysis. Sex significantly interacted with contaminant type (Hg or PCBs), as males were 43% higher in PCB concentration than females, whereas females were 2% higher in Hg concentration than males. Males eliminating Hg from their bodies at a faster rate than females was a likely explanation for this discrepancy between the two contaminant types. Overall, the Hg and PCB concentrations in the summer flounder were relatively low, and therefore our findings also had implications for continued operation of the summer flounder fishery.

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