Mercury, Arsenic and Selenium in Catfish Caught in the Allegheny River; Implications for Identification of Pollution Sources. Submitted by

Power plant emissions are a major source of mercury, selenium and arsenic in aquatic environments. Upon entering the rivers, these water contaminants enter the food chain and begin to move between trophic levels. If they are not directly introduced into the food chain, those contaminants can be deposited in river sediment. As a result, plants and animals that are low on the food chain take up the contaminants as well as nutrients via bio-concentration and bio-accumulation. There is a lack of data regarding the level of metals and metalloids, especially, methylmercury, arsenic and selenium in fish along major portions of the Allegheny River however; fish can be used as bioindicators of human exposure to these metal and metalloid toxins. Concentrations of arsenic, mercury, and selenium from the flesh tissue of catfish caught from different locations on the Allegheny River which are correlated with proximity to industrial facility effluents, power plant fallout or fly ash pile leechate, can be compared to help determine sources of these toxins. It is hypothesized that higher levels of mercury, selenium, and arsenic will be found in catfish in the areas near coal fired power plants and areas adjacent to wastewater release. Furthermore, it is hypothesized that store-bought catfish will have lower Hg, As, and Se fillet concentration than fish caught within the sites of the Allegheny River because of the lack of industrial and municipal waste in waters breeding farm raised catfish