Fish mercury distribution in Massachusetts, USA lakes

The sediment, water, and three species of fish from 24 of Massachusetts' (relatively) least-impacted water bodies were sampled to determine the patterns of variation in edible tissue mercury concentrations and the relationships of these patterns to characteristics of the water, sediment, and water bodies (lake, wetland, and watershed areas). Sampling was apportioned among three different ecological subregions and among lakes of differing trophic status. We sought to partition the variance to discover if these broadly defined concepts are suitable predictors of mercury levels in fish. Average muscle mercury concentrations were 0.15 mg/kg wet weight in the bottom-feeding brown bullheads (Ameiurus nebulosus) (range = 0.01–0.79 mg/kg); 0.31 mg/kg in the omnivorous yellow perch (Perca flavescens) (range = 0.01–0.75 mg/kg); and 0.39 mg/kg in the predaceous largemouth bass (Micropterus salmoides) (range = 0.05–1.1 mg/kg). Statistically significant differences in fish mercury concentrations between ecological subregions in Massachusetts, USA, existed only in yellow perch. The productivity level of the lakes (as deduced from Carlson's Trophic Status Index) was not a strong predictor of tissue mercury concentrations in any species. pH was a highly (inversely) correlated environmental variable with yellow perch and brown bullhead tissue mercury. Largemouth bass tissue mercury concentrations were most highly correlated with the weight of the fish (+), lake size (+), and source area sizes (+). Properties of individual lakes appear more important for determining fish tissue mercury concentrations than do small-scale ecoregional differences. Species that show major mercury variation with size or trophic level may not be good choices for use in evaluating the importance of environmental variables.