TY - JOUR
T1 - Preferential Liver Accumulation of Mercury Explains Low Concentrations in Muscle of Caiman yacare (Alligatoridae) in Upper Amazon
AU - Salazar-Pammo, Andrea C.
AU - Achá, Dario
AU - Miranda-Chumacero, Guido
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2021, The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Science+Business Media, LLC part of Springer Nature.
PY - 2021/2
Y1 - 2021/2
N2 - Caiman yacare is considered one of the top predators in the Amazon basin, and understanding pollutant distribution within its tissues may help its sustainable management. As a top predator, C. yacare should have the highest mercury concentrations, but has lower Hg concentrations than carnivorous fish (Rivera et al. 2016), which are part of their diet. We compared total Hg among liver, kidney, fat, and muscle of C. yacare, and whether trends in the distribution of Hg among tissues were like other crocodilians, aquatic birds, omnivorous, and carnivorous fish. Fat had the lowest concentrations (0.025 ± 0.03 mg kg−1) followed by muscle (0.15 ± 0.06 mg kg−1), kidney (0.57 ± 0.30 mg kg−1) and liver (1.81 ± 0.80 mg kg−1). Such preferential accumulation makes C. yacare meat a safer alternative for human consumption than carnivorous fish. The relation between Hg accumulation in liver and muscle is highest in crocodilians, which has evolutive and environmental implications.
AB - Caiman yacare is considered one of the top predators in the Amazon basin, and understanding pollutant distribution within its tissues may help its sustainable management. As a top predator, C. yacare should have the highest mercury concentrations, but has lower Hg concentrations than carnivorous fish (Rivera et al. 2016), which are part of their diet. We compared total Hg among liver, kidney, fat, and muscle of C. yacare, and whether trends in the distribution of Hg among tissues were like other crocodilians, aquatic birds, omnivorous, and carnivorous fish. Fat had the lowest concentrations (0.025 ± 0.03 mg kg−1) followed by muscle (0.15 ± 0.06 mg kg−1), kidney (0.57 ± 0.30 mg kg−1) and liver (1.81 ± 0.80 mg kg−1). Such preferential accumulation makes C. yacare meat a safer alternative for human consumption than carnivorous fish. The relation between Hg accumulation in liver and muscle is highest in crocodilians, which has evolutive and environmental implications.
KW - Crocodilian
KW - Mercury decontamination
KW - Mercury in kidney
KW - Sustainable management
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85100674708&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1007/s00128-020-03081-8
DO - 10.1007/s00128-020-03081-8
M3 - Artículo
C2 - 33394066
AN - SCOPUS:85100674708
VL - 106
SP - 264
EP - 269
JO - Bulletin of Environmental Contamination and Toxicology
JF - Bulletin of Environmental Contamination and Toxicology
SN - 0007-4861
IS - 2
ER -