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Assessing exposure risks for freshwater tilapia species posed by mercury and methylmercury

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Abstract

Waterborne and dietborne exposures of freshwater fish to mercury (Hg) in the forms of inorganic (Hg(II)) and organic (methylmercury or MeHg) affect their growth, development, and reproduction. However, an integrated mechanistic risk model framework to predict the impact of Hg(II)/MeHg on freshwater fish is lacking. Here, we integrated biokinetic, physiological and biogeographic data to calibrate and then establish key risk indices—hazardous quotient and exceedance risk—for freshwater tilapia species across geographic ranges of several major rivers in Taiwan. We found that Hg(II) burden was highest in kidney followed by gill, intestine, liver, blood, and muscle. Our results showed that Hg was less likely to pose mortality risk (mortality rate less than 5 %) for freshwater tilapia species. However, Hg is likely to pose the potential hazard to aquatic environments constrained by safety levels for aquatic organisms. Sensitivity analysis showed that amount of Hg accumulated in tilapia was most influenced by sediment uptake rate. Our approach opens up new possibilities for predicting future fish population health with the impacts of continued Hg exposure to provide information on which fish are deemed safe for human consumption.

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    Authors and Affiliations

    1. Department of Bioenvironmental Systems Engineering, National Taiwan University, Taipei, 10617, Taiwan, Republic of China

      Yi-Hsien Cheng, Ying-Fei Yang, Chun Ming How, Yi-Ting Tseng & Chung-Min Liao

    2. National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, National Health Research Institutes, Miaoli County, 35053, Taiwan, Republic of China

      Yi-Jun Lin & Shu-Han You

    3. Department of Biomedical Science and Environmental Biology, Kaohsiung Medical University, Kaohsiung, 80708, Taiwan, Republic of China

      Wei-Yu Chen

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    1. Yi-Hsien Cheng
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    Yi-Hsien Cheng and Yi-Jun Lin contributed equally to this work that was initiated in the Fall 2014 Class “Simulation and Computation for Biosystems (II).”.

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    Cheng, YH., Lin, YJ., You, SH. et al. Assessing exposure risks for freshwater tilapia species posed by mercury and methylmercury. Ecotoxicology 25, 1181–1193 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10646-016-1672-4

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