Environ Sci Pollut Res (2014) 21:6239–6242 DOI 10.1007/s11356-013-2459-2

SHORT RESEARCH AND DISCUSSION ARTICLE

Importance of fish gender as a factor in environmental monitoring of mercury Ivana Jankovská & Daniela Miholová & Štěpán Romočuský & Miloslav Petrtýl & Iva Langrová & Lukáš Kalous & Vladislav Sloup & Petr Válek & Jaroslav Vadlejch & Daniela Lukešová

Received: 9 September 2013 / Accepted: 12 December 2013 / Published online: 29 December 2013 # Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2014

Abstract Total mercury concentrations were determined in the gonadal tissues of 15 female and 10 male European perch (Perca fluviatilis) from one location of the stream “Jevanský potok” located about 30 km from Prague (Czech Republic). Tissue samples were frozen at −26 °C in polypropylene containers until further processing, which was carried out using an Advance Mercury Analyser (single purpose atomic absorption spectrometer). Mercury concentrations were present in all analysed gonad samples, and ranged from 2.3 to 12.7 μg/kg wet weight. However, we determined a mean Hg concentration (9.45 μg/kg) in male gonads that was 2.4 times greater than that of female gonads (3.9 μg/kg). This is an important finding when taking into account fish sex in environmental pollution monitoring (especially for mercury contamination). Keywords Mercury . Accumulation . Gonad . Sex . Perca fluviatilis

Responsible Editor: Vera Slaveykova I. Jankovská (*) : Š. Romočuský : M. Petrtýl : I. Langrová : L. Kalous : V. Sloup : P. Válek : J. Vadlejch Department of Zoology and Fisheries, Faculty of Agrobiology, Food and Natural Resources, Czech University of Life Sciences, 165 21 Prague 6, Suchdol, Czech Republic e-mail: [email protected] D. Miholová Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Agrobiology, Food and Natural Resources, Czech University of Life Sciences, 165 21 Prague 6, Suchdol, Czech Republic D. Lukešová Department of Animal Science and Food processing in Tropics and Subtropics, Faculty of Tropical AgriSciences, Czech University of Life Sciences Prague, 165 21 Prague 6, Suchdol, Czech Republic

Introduction Due to its toxicity and accumulation in organisms (particularly fish), mercury is an important pollutant of concern as well as one of the most widely studied. However, the factors that control bioconcentration and accumulation are not completely understood (Deng et al. 2013). Mercury enters the aquatic ecosystem in the form of inorganic mercury. Bacteria in water and sediments convert the inorganic mercury into highly toxic methylmercury (Gilmour and Henry 1991). The methylation of inorganic mercury in the aquatic environment and subsequent bioaccumulation and biomagnification of this compound are greater in animals found near the top of the food chain (i.e. predatory animals). Therefore, there are elevated levels of methylmercury in the tissues of predatory fish (Ryman et al. 2008). Relatively small concentrations of Hg (

Importance of fish gender as a factor in environmental monitoring of mercury.

Total mercury concentrations were determined in the gonadal tissues of 15 female and 10 male European perch (Perca fluviatilis) from one location of t...
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