clusion can also give rise to less reliable data by overes- 
timating mean values. 
Element Levels 
The distribution of mean element levels in Resource 
Survey species is summarized in Table 3 for the 159 
species of finfishes whose muscle was analyzed, 82 
species whose liver was analyzed, 17 species of whole fin- 
fish, 18 species of Mollusca, and 16 species of Crustacea. 
The main features of the results are outlined below for 
each of the elements analyzed. 
Antimony (Sb): The mean Sb levels in most finfish 
muscles and livers fell in the range 0.5-0.9 ppm. Most 
species of whole finfishes contained Sb levels between 1.0 
and 3.0 ppm. Most shellfish species displayed mean Sb 
levels between 0.8 and 1.0 ppm. 
Arsenic (As): The mean As levels showed a wide 
range of values for finfish muscles and livers, whole fin- 
fishes, and Mollusca, with most species falling between 
2.0 and 5.0 ppm in each category. Crustacea showed 
somewhat higher levels, with the largest number of 
species falling between 4.0 and 5.0 ppm. 
Cadmium (Cd): Finfish muscles usually contained 
less than 0.1 ppm Cd, whereas finfish livers ranged in Cd 
content up to 30.0 ppm with no apparent mode. The 
whole finfishes examined generally fell in the range 0.1- 
0.3 ppm Cd as did Mollusca and Crustacea, with 
Mollusca showing more variation than the other two. 
Chromium (Cr): Except for whole finfishes, the 
mean Cr levels for most species fell within the range 0.1- 
0.4 ppm. A range of 0.2-0.6 ppm Cr was found for the 
majority of the whole finfishes analyzed. 
Copper (Cu): There is a significant difference in 
mean Cu levels between finfish muscles and livers. The 
muscles ranged from 0.1 to 2.0 ppm Cu, with most 
species falling between 0.2 and 0.5 ppm. On the other 
hand, livers ranged from 1.0-110.0 ppm, with no ap- 
parent mode. Although no pattern could be discerned for 
whole finfishes and shellfishes, much higher Cu levels 
were found in the shellfishes. 
Lead (Pb): The mean Pb levels in the majority of 
species were found to fall in the following ranges: fin- 
fish muscles, 0.3-0.7 ppm; finfish livers, 0.2-0.6 ppm; 
Mollusca and Crustacea, 0.5-0.8 ppm. No pattern was 
observed for mean Pb levels in whole finfishes. 
Manganese (Mn): Mean Mn levels in finfish muscles 
and livers ranged up to 2.0 ppm, with muscles usually 
below 0.3 ppm and livers usually above 0.6 ppm. Whole 
finfishes exhibited a mode in the range 1.0-2.0 ppm Mn. 
Mercury (Hg): Most finfish muscles had mean Hg 
levels below 0.3 ppm and only 31 species were found to 
contain mean Hg levels above the FDA action level of 0.5 
ppm. However, these 31 species represent only one per- 
centage point of the 63.9% of the catch intended for con- 
sumption represented by the 159 species analyzed. Ex- 
trapolation of these results indicates that, in fact, less 
than 2% of the U.S. catch intended for consumption may 
be in excess of the action level. Of the 31 species above 
0.5 ppm Hg, 10 are sharks and 4 are billfishes. Livers 
generally showed slightly higher Hg levels than muscle 
samples. All species of whole finfishes had mean Hg 
levels below 0.3 ppm. Likewise, Crustacea had mean 
levels less than 0.3 ppm Hg and Mollusca were all below 
0.1 ppm. 
Molybdenum (Mo): The mean Mo levels for the ma- 
jority of finfish muscles and livers, whole finfishes and 
Mollusca, and all the Crustacea ranged from< 0.1 to 0.4 
ppm Mo. 
Nickel (Ni): The distributions for Ni are similar to 
those found for Cr. The mean Ni levels in finfish muscles 
and livers ranged from 0.1 to 0.3 ppm for most species. 
The majority of the whole finfishes were between 0.3 and 
0.5 ppm Ni. For most of the Crustacea the range of mean 
Ni levels was 0.2-0.4 ppm. 
Selenium (Se): With the exception of finfish livers, 
no mean Se values were greater than 2.0 ppm. For fin- 
fish muscles, the mean level in the majority of species 
ranged from 0.4 to 0.9 ppm Se. Finfish livers showed a 
greatly extended range of 0.6-30.0 ppm, with the majori- 
ty between 1.0 and 3.0 ppm. 
Silver (Ag): Finfish muscles contained mean levels 
less than 0.1 ppm Ag for all but one specimen examined. 
The majority of the species in the other categories were 
likewise below 0.1 ppm Ag, although livers ranged up to 
0.6 ppm, whole finfishes to 0.2 ppm, Mollusca to 0.7 
ppm, and Crustacea up to 0.5 ppm. 
Tin (Sn): The ranges of mean Sn levels for most 
species were ().4-0.8 ppm for muscles and 0.3-0.7 ppm for 
livers. Most of the whole finfishes contained 1.0-2.0 ppm 
Sn. 
Vanadium (V): The mean V levels of finfish muscles 
and livers were below 0.5 ppm for most species, although 
livers tended to be higher than muscles. Most whole fin- 
fishes had mean values of V less than 0.8 ppm. 
Vanadium levels in most shellfishes fell between 0.2 and 
0.5 ppm. 
Zinc (Zn): The distributions for Zn are similar to 
those found for Cu, although the values are higher. 
Muscles ranged from 2.0 to 20.0 ppm, with the majority 
of species falling in the range 3.0-6.0 ppm, whereas livers 
ranged from 4.0 to 700.0 ppm, with the majority of 
species in the range 10.0-40.0 ppm Zn. 
CONCLUDING REMARKS 
The completion of this data report does not bring the 
Resource Survey to an end. No attempt has been made 
here, for example, to compare element levels in a par- 
ticular species or to investigate possible relationships 
between element levels and fish location, size, or sex. 
The analytical values have been summarized by site only 
for each species and tissue, and very little of the history 
of the fish has been presented. Many of the data not 
made available here will be presented in the form of 
detailed data reports. Two such reports currently in 
preparation present trace element levels in fishes and 
shellfishes taken from the New York Bight and adjacent 
waters, and in sharks caught in U.S. waters. The com- 
