Hostname: page-component-7f64f4797f-bnl7t Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-11-03T13:57:35.052Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Mercury concentrations of two toothfish and three of its prey species from the Pacific sector of the Antarctic

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 October 2011

Stuart M. Hanchet ,
Dianne Tracey ,
Alistair Dunn ,
Peter Horn  and
Neville Smith
Stuart M. Hanchet*
Affiliation:
National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research (NIWA) Ltd, PO Box 893, Nelson, New Zealand
Dianne Tracey
Affiliation:
National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research (NIWA) Ltd, Private Bag 14901, Wellington, New Zealand
Alistair Dunn
Affiliation:
National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research (NIWA) Ltd, Private Bag 14901, Wellington, New Zealand
Peter Horn
Affiliation:
National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research (NIWA) Ltd, Private Bag 14901, Wellington, New Zealand
Neville Smith
Affiliation:
Ministry of Fisheries, PO Box 1020, Wellington, New Zealand
*
s.hanchet@niwa.co.nz
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Muscle tissue samples were collected from Antarctic toothfish (Dissostichus mawsoni Norman) and Patagonian toothfish (D. eleginoides Smitt) in 1998 and from D. mawsoni and three of its prey species - Whitson's grenadier (Macrourus whitsoni (Regan)), ice fish (Chionobathyscus dewitti Andriashev & Neyelov), and blue antimora (Antimora rostrata (Günther)) - in 2006 to determine their mercury. Mercury levels were highly variable both within and between the five species studied but were positively correlated with fish length in four of the species. Once the factors length and year had been accounted for, the mercury levels in D. eleginoides were more than four times greater than in D. mawsoni. The low levels of mercury in D. mawsoni relative to its prey species and the four-fold difference in mercury concentrations between it and D. eleginoides were unexpected. Reasons for these different levels of bioaccumulation were explored including differences in diet, growth and longevity, and location. Differences in bioaccumulation between the two toothfish species could be explained partly through differences in their geographic distribution and differences in trophic position. However, the low levels of mercury in D. mawsoni relative to its prey species can only be explained by a lower rate of mercury assimilation and/or a higher rate of mercury elimination by D. mawsoni.

Keywords

AntimoraCCAMLRChionobathyscusDissostichusMacrourus

Information

Type
Biological Sciences
Information
Antarctic Science , Volume 24 , Issue 1 , 06 February 2012 , pp. 34 - 42
Copyright
Copyright © Antarctic Science Ltd 2011

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Article purchase

Temporarily unavailable

References

Akaike, H. 1974. A new look at statistical model identification. IEEE Transactions on Automatic Control, AU-19, 716–722.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bank, M.S., Chessney, E., Shine, J.P., Maage, A.Senn, D.B. 2007. Mercury bioaccumulation and trophic transfer in sympatric snapper species from the Gulf of Mexico. Ecological Applications, 17, 2100–2110.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bargagli, R., Monaci, F., Sancez-Hernandez, J.C.Cateni, D. 1998. Biomagnification of mercury in an Antarctic marine coastal food web. Marine Ecology Progress series, 169, 65–76.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Eastman, J.T. 1985. The evolution of neutrally buoyant notothenioid fishes: their specializations and potential interactions in the Antarctic marine food web. In Siegfried, R.W., Condy, P.R.&Laws, R.M., eds. Antarctic nutrient cycles and food webs. Berlin: Springer, 430–436.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Evans, D.W., Kathman, R.D.Walker, W.W. 2000. Trophic accumulation and depuration of mercury by blue crabs (Callinectes sapidus) and pink shrimp (Penaeus duorarum). Marine Environmental Research, 49, 419–434.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Fenaughty, J.M. 2006. Geographical differences in the condition, reproductive development, sex ratio, and length distribution of Antarctic toothfish Dissostichus mawsoni from the Ross Sea, Antarctica (CCAMLR statistical Subarea 88.1). CCAMLR Science, 13, 27–46.Google Scholar
Fenaughty, J.M., Eastman, J.T.Sidell, B.D. 2008. Biological implications of low condition factor “axe handle” specimens of the Antarctic toothfish, Dissostichus mawsoni, from the Ross Sea. Antarctic Science, 20, 537–551.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fenaughty, J.M., Stevens, D.W.Hanchet, S.M. 2003. Diet of the Antarctic toothfish (Dissostichus mawsoni) from the Ross Sea, Antarctica (Subarea 88.1). CCAMLR Science, 10, 113–123.Google Scholar
Goldsworthy, S.D., Lewis, M., Williams, R., He, X., Young, J.W.van Den Hoff, J. 2002. Diet of Patagonian toothfish (Dissostichus eleginoides) around Macquarie Island, South Pacific Ocean. Marine & Freshwater Research, 53, 49–57.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gon, O.Heemstra, P.eds. 1990. Fishes of the Southern Ocean. Grahamstown: J.L.B. Smith Institute of Ichthyology, 462 pp.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Guynn, K.D.Peterson, M.S. 2008. Mercury concentrations in the Patagonian toothfish, Dissostichus eleginoides Smitt 1898, among three distinct stocks. Polar Biology, 31, 269–274.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hanchet, S.M., Stevenson, M.L.Dunn, A. 2010. A characterisation of the toothfish fishery in Subareas 88.1 & 88.2 from 1997–98 to 2009–10 Document WG-FSA-10/23. Hobart, TAS: CCAMLR, 30 pp.Google Scholar
Hanchet, S.M., Rickard, G.J., Fenaughty, J.M., Dunn, A.Williams, M.J. 2008. A hypothetical life cycle for Antarctic toothfish Dissostichus mawsoni in Antarctic waters of CCAMLR Statistical Area 88. CCAMLR Science, 15, 35–54.Google Scholar
Horn, P.L. 2002. Age and growth of Patagonian toothfish (Dissostichus eleginoides) and Antarctic toothfish (D. mawsoni) in waters from the New Zealand subantarctic to the Ross Sea, Antarctica. Fisheries Research, 56, 275–287.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
La Mesa, M., Eastman, J.T.Vacchi, M. 2004. The role of notothenioid fish in the food web of the Ross Sea shelf waters: a review. Polar Biology, 27, 321–338.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Marriot, P.M., Horn, P.L.McMillan, P. 2003. Species identification and age estimation for the ridge-scaled Macrourid (Macrourus whitsoni) the Ross Sea. CCAMLR Science, 10, 37–51.Google Scholar
Martins, I., Costa, V., Porteiro, F.M., Colaco, A.Santos, R.S. 2006. Mercury concentrations in fish species caught at Mid-Atlantic Ridge hydrothermal vent fields. Marine Ecology Progress Series, 320, 253–258.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McArthur, T., Butler, E.C.V.Jackson, G.D. 2003. Mercury in the marine food chain in the Southern Ocean at Macquarie Island: an analysis of a top predator, Patagonian toothfish (Dissostichus eleginoides) and a mid-trophic species, the warty squid (Moroteuthis ingens). Polar Biology, 27, 1–5.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mendez, E., Giudice, H., Pereira, A., Inocente, G.Medina, D. 2001. Preliminary report on the total mercury content of Patagonian toothfish (Dissostichus eleginoides). Journal of Food Composition and Analysis, 14, 547–549.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Piraino, M.N.Taylor, D.L. 2009. Bioaccumulation and trophic transfer of mercury in striped bass (Morone saxatilis) and tautog (Tautoga onitis) from the Narragansett Bay (Rhode Island, USA). Marine Environmental Research, 67, 117–128.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
R Development Core Team. 2009. R: a language and environment for statistical computing, version 2.10.1. Vienna: R Foundation for Statistical Computing, http://www.R-project.org.Google Scholar
SC-CCAMLR, . 2009. Report of the Twenty-eighth Meeting of the Scientific Committee. Hobart, TAS: CCAMLR, 584 pp.Google Scholar
Stevens, D.W. 2004. Stomach contents of the Antarctic toothfish (Dissostichus mawsoni) from the western Ross Sea, Antarctica. Document WG-FSA-04/31. Hobart, TAS: CCAMLR, 14 pp.Google Scholar
Stevens, D.W. 2006. Stomach contents of sub-adult Antarctic toothfish (Dissostichus mawsoni) from the western Ross Sea, Antarctica. Document WG-FSA-06/27. Hobart, TAS: CCAMLR, 15 pp.Google Scholar
Sutton, C.P., Manning, M.J., Stevens, D.W.Marriott, P.M. 2008. Biological parameters for icefish (Chionobathyscus dewitti) in the Ross Sea, Antarctica. CCAMLR Science, 15, 139–166.Google Scholar
Trudel, M.Rasmussen, J.B. 1997. Modelling the elimination of mercury by fish. Environmental Science and Technology, 31, 1716–1722.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Trudel, M., Tremblay, A., Schetagne, R.Rasmussen, J.B. 2000. Estimating food consumption rates of fish using a mercury mass balance model. Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences, 57, 414–428.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Yukhov, V.L. 1971. The range of Dissostichus mawsoni Norman and some features of its biology. Journal of Ichthyology, 11, 8–18.Google Scholar