FISHERY BULLETIN: VOL. 74, NO. 4 



Table 3. -Mercury concentration in heads-off eviscerated sablefish from California. 



Northern California Central California Southern California 



Fish Mercury (ppm) Fish Mercury (ppm) Fish Mercury (ppm) 



% over % over % over 



No. 0.5 ppm Low High Mean No. 5 ppm Low High Mean No. 0.5 ppm Low High Mean 



61 2 0.03 0.65 0.12 4 0.08 0.18 0.13 68 59 0.04 1.74 0.50 



8 50 0.20 0.85 0.45 5 40 0.36 0.54 0.46 35 86 0.38 2.11 0.73 

 14 50 0.22 0.73 0.47 7 29 0.42 0.79 0.53 12 100 0.53 0.88 0.72 



9 44 0.22 0.75 0.49 4 25 0.13 0.57 0.40 4 100 0.54 0.83 0.71 

 2 100 0.70 0.75 0.73 2 0.31 0.44 0.37 — — _ _ _ 

 2 50 0.32 0.89 0.61 1 100 0.58 0.58 0.58 — — _ _ _ 

 1 100 0.95 0.95 0.95 3 100 0.62 0.69 0.66 — — _ _ _ 

 1 100 0.53 0.53 0.53 2 100 0.61 0.68 0.64 — — _ _ _ 



— — _ _ _ 1 100 0.71 0.71 0.71 — — _ _ _ 



— — _ _ _ 1 100 0.61 0.61 0.61 — — _ _ _ 



Weight range 



Pounds 

 (kg) 



0.5- 

 (0.23- 



3.0- 

 (1.36- 



4.0- 

 (1.82- 



5.0- 

 (2.27- 



6.0- 

 (2.72- 



7.0- 

 (3.18- 



8.0- 

 (3.63- 



9.0- 



(4.09- 



12.0- 



(5.45- 



13.0- 



(5.90- 



2.99 



1.36) 



3.99 



1.81) 



4.99 



2.26) 



5.99 



■2.72) 



6.99 



3.17) 



7.99 



3.63) 



8.99 



4.09) 



9.99 



4.54) 



12.99 



5.90) 



13.99 



6.35) 



sablefish are analogous to what was found in 

 Pacific halibut (Hall et al. 1976); i.e., mercury levels 

 increased from north to south until at the southern 

 part of the range even small fish exhibited high 

 mercury levels. Anas (1974) observed a similar 

 pattern in the harbor seal, Phoca vitulina 

 richardi. 



There appears to be a direct relationship 

 between the size of the sablefish and the mercury 

 level found in the muscle. Comparisons between 



WEIGHT (kg) 







2 3 



WEIGHT (pounds) 



Figure 2.- Relationship between heads-off eviscerated weight 

 and mercury concentration in muscle tissue of sablefish from the 

 Bering Sea-Kodiak Island, Alaska. 



WEIGHT (kg) 

 4 6 



5 10 15 



WEIGHT(pounds) 



20 



Figure 3.— Relationship between heads-off eviscerated weight 

 and mercury concentration in muscle tissue of sablefish from 

 southeast Alaska. 



weight and mercury level for fish from each area 

 are given in Figures 2-8. The exponential function, 

 y = aj*, was used for the statistical evaluation of 

 the data. Length-to-mercury relationships are 

 very similar to those for weight-to-mercury and 

 are not shown for this reason. Correlation 

 coeflRcients (r values) are shown on each plot, and 

 the relationship between weight and mercury was 

 highly significant (0.1% level) in all areas except in 

 the Bering Sea-Kodiak Island area where the 

 relationship was not significant. 



794 



