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1 January 2018 Mercury Contents of the Tissues and Feathers of Black-Tailed Gulls on Kabushima (Kabu Island), Aomori, Japan
Ryota Goto, Takeshi Ohura, Yuichi Mizutani, Yasuaki Niizuma
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Abstract

To study total mercury concentration ([Hg]) in organ tissues and feathers, 13 carcasses of adult Black-tailed Gull Larus crassirostris were collected at the breeding colony on Kabushima (Kabu Island), western Pacific Ocean, at the northern-most point of Japan's Sanriku Coast. [Hg] in liver (10.7±6.5 µg/g dry weight±S.D. and 3.2±2.1 µg/g wet weight±S.D.), kidney (6.7±4.8 and 1.8±1.3), breast muscle (3.3±2.3 and 1.0±0.3), heart (4.5±3.0 and 1.1±0.7) and brain (2.8±2.3 and 0.7±0.6) were 2.6–12.5 times higher than in previous studies of the same species. The order of [Hg] concentrations in Black-tailed Gull feather tracts was: inner primaries (P1–P5, 11.2±4.9 µg/g dry weight±S.D)>breast feathers (6.5±2.0)>secondaries (S1–S15, 2.8±1.9)>outer primaries (P6–P10, 2.5±1.9)>rectrices (R1–R6, 1.6±1.4).

© The Ornithological Society of Japan 2018
Ryota Goto, Takeshi Ohura, Yuichi Mizutani, and Yasuaki Niizuma "Mercury Contents of the Tissues and Feathers of Black-Tailed Gulls on Kabushima (Kabu Island), Aomori, Japan," Ornithological Science 17(1), 113-118, (1 January 2018). https://doi.org/10.2326/osj.17.113
Received: 16 May 2017; Accepted: 1 October 2017; Published: 1 January 2018
KEYWORDS
Larus crassirostris
Sanriku coast
top predator
X-ray fluorescence spectrometry
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