Methylmercury concentrations in six fish species from two Colombian rivers

Santiago Alvarez, Ashley M. Jessick, Jaime A. Palacio, Alan S. Kolok

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

15 Scopus citations

Abstract

The objective of this study was to determine whether fish collected from the La Miel or Nechí Rivers (Colombia) differed in muscle methyl mercury (meHg) concentration. Two fish from six different species were collected from markets adjacent to each river. Overall, fish collected from the market adjacent to the Nechí River contained higher levels of meHg. This result however is being driven by very high meHg concentrations in four individual fish, three of which are Pimelodid, long-whiskered catfish. These catfish may represent ideal sentinel organism for the detection of meHg contamination in Colombian rivers.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)65-68
Number of pages4
JournalBulletin of Environmental Contamination and Toxicology
Volume88
Issue number1
DOIs
StatePublished - Jan 2012

Keywords

  • Colombia
  • Fish
  • Gold mining
  • Methylmercury

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Toxicology
  • Pollution
  • Health, Toxicology and Mutagenesis

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