Lake Cumberland represents 24.3% of all publicly accessible waters in the state of Kentucky and 59.6% of those waters that do not support fish consumption due to the presence of elevated methylmercury (MeHg+), a known neurotoxin, present in the tissue of the fish. Large predatory fish species like Morone saxatilis (striped bass) exhibit these elevated MeHg+ concentrations when toxic elemental mercury (Hg0) is present in the environment. MeHg+ bioaccumulates in the larger, older individuals of all fish species and the consumption of these fish represent the overt majority of MeHg+ exposure in humans. In this study, Morone saxatilis (n=55) of varying size and locations within Lake Cumberland were collected using common sports-fishing techniques, euthanized, and quantitatively analyzed for MeHg+ content using a specialized Milestone Direct Mercury Analyzer (DMA-80). It was found that, of the specimen collected, none were below the “risk-based number” of 0.12 ppm MeHg+ and only 7.3% were below the FDA reported mean concentration of 0.167 ppm for the species. Of the samples, 69.1% contained greater MeHg+ levels than the EPA water quality criterion concentration (0.300 ppm), 5.5% were over the FDA reported maximum observed concentration for the species (0.96 ppm). 3.6% of the specimen exceeded the FDA legal action limit; the threshold for declaring a body of water as not supporting of fish consumption in the state of Kentucky. Of the legally harvestable fish collected, all had concentrations greater than the EPA criterion, which is the standard for action in many states.

Analysis of methylmercury concentrations of Morone saxatilis in Lake Cumberland, KY show levels much greater than FDA reported values for the species

255th National Meeting (2018)

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