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Document Title:
Environmental Contaminants in Tissues from an Atlantic Sturgeon (Acipenser oxyrinchus) Recovered in Wellfleet, Massachusetts
AUTHOR(S):
Steven E. Mierzykowski
REPORT NUMBER:
FY09-MEFO-4?EC
PAGES:
1 - 44
PUBLICATION DATE:
December 2010
ABSTRACT:
On February 2, 2007, a family walking along a Cape Cod beach in Wellfleet, Massachusetts, came upon a large
dead sturgeon in the sand. The 5 foot, 45 pound sturgeon was later identified as a male Atlantic sturgeon
(Acipenser oxyrinchus) with an estimated age of 17 years. Atlantic sturgeon are long-lived, late maturing,
estuarine-dependent, anadromous, benthic feeding fish that inhabit the Atlantic coast from the Canadian
Maritimes to Florida. Since very little information is available regarding contaminant burdens in Atlantic sturgeon
from the New England area, the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) funded an Interagency Agreement with
the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) so contaminant concentrations in muscle, liver, and gonad samples from
the sturgeon carcass could be determined. Single samples of each tissue type were analyzed for dioxins, furans,
polychlorinated biphenyl (PCBs), polychlorinated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs), other organic compounds (e.g., DDT,
chlordanes), trace metals (e.g., arsenic, mercury, lead), and lipid content.
Interagency Agreement Number: EM133F-06-IA-0185
NMFS Reference/Requisition Number: NFFM 5100-6-00657
USFWS Region 5 ID: 53411-1901-5015
DOCUMENT LINK:
http://www.fws.gov/northeast/mainecontaminants/pdf/Wellfleet_AtlanticSturgeonReport_Final.pdf, 550 KB
ADDITIONAL LINKS:
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service - Maine Contaminants Program
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