Department of Biology and Centre for Environment and Sustainability, Western University, London, ON N6A 5B7, Canada.
Ontario Ministry of the Environment, Conservation and Parks, 125 Resources Road, Toronto, ON M9P 3V6, Canada.
J Environ Sci (China). 2019 Jun;80:137-145. doi: 10.1016/j.jes.2018.12.004. Epub 2018 Dec 18.
The use of biopsy plugs to sample fish muscle tissue for mercury analyses is a viable alternative to lethal sampling; however, the practice has yet to be widely implemented in routine monitoring due to concerns about variability of mercury concentrations in fish muscle tissues. Here we examine distribution of mercury in fillets of four fish species (Walleye, Northern Pike, Smallmouth Bass and Lake Trout), suitability of left/right side of fillet for biopsy sampling, and appropriateness of re-using a biopsy punch. The results showed that average mercury concentrations in left and right fillets of fish are similar. Mercury concentrations in biopsy plug samples, taken from the anterior dorsal area of the fish fillet, were statistically equivalent to the mercury concentrations in homogenized fillets. There was no discernible cross contamination between samples when a biopsy punch was reused after washing in hot soapy water, and as such, biopsy punches can be recycled during sampling to reduce the sampling cost. If a tissue mass collected from a specific site on the fillet is insufficient, then we suggest sampling corresponding locations on the other fillet rather than sampling two adjacent sites on one fillet to obtain more tissue. The results presented here can improve the accuracy of fillet biopsy plug sampling, minimize fish mortality for mercury monitoring, and reduce labor and material costs in monitoring programs.
使用活检塞从鱼类肌肉组织中取样以进行汞分析是一种可行的替代致死性取样的方法；然而，由于担心鱼类肌肉组织中汞浓度的可变性，这种方法尚未在常规监测中广泛实施。在这里，我们研究了四种鱼类（大眼蓝鳃太阳鱼、北美狗鱼、小口黑鲈和湖鳟）鱼片的汞分布、从鱼片的左右两侧进行活检取样的适用性以及重复使用活检打孔器的适宜性。结果表明，鱼类左右两侧鱼片的平均汞浓度相似。从鱼排前背区域采集的活检塞样本中的汞浓度与均质鱼片的汞浓度在统计学上是等效的。在使用热肥皂水清洗后重复使用活检打孔器时，样品之间没有明显的交叉污染，因此，在采样过程中可以回收活检打孔器以降低采样成本。如果从鱼片特定部位采集的组织量不足，则建议在另一片鱼片的相应位置取样，而不是在一片鱼片上的两个相邻位置取样，以获取更多的组织。这里提出的结果可以提高鱼片活检塞取样的准确性，最大限度地减少汞监测中的鱼类死亡率，并降低监测计划中的劳动力和材料成本。
