TABLE 2.
Mean Total Mercury Levels (ppm) by Region
| Species | Mercury
|
χ 2 (p) | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| South
|
Central
|
North
|
|||||
| n | Mean ± SE | n | Mean ± SE | n | Mean ± SE | ||
| Shortfin mako | 12 | 1.76 ± 0.18 | 40 | 1.86 ± 0.22 | NS | ||
| Atlantic bluefin tuna | 21 | 0.55 ± 0.03 | 2 | 0.30 ± 0.06 | 4.3 (.04) | ||
| Striped bass | 77 | 0.48 ± 0.04 | 101 | 0.33 ± 0.02 | 9.3 (.002) | ||
| Bluefish | 59 | 0.19 ± 0.02 | 79 | 0.49 ± 0.04 | 68 | 0.32 ± 0.03 | 40.6 (<.0001) |
| Tautog | 24 | 0.17 ± 0.02 | 1 | 0.26 a | 22 | 0.23 ± 0.02 | NS |
| Yellowfin tuna | 43 | 0.17 ± 0.02 | 4 | 0.49 ± 0.04 | 8.0 (.005) | ||
| Windowpane flounder | 32 | 0.17 ± 0.02 | 16 | 0.22 ± 0.02 | 3.9 (.05) | ||
| Dolphin (mahi-mahi) | 23 | 0.19 ± 0.04 | 3 | 0.10 ± 0.05 | 1 | 0.04 | NS |
| Southern kingfish | 23 | 0.17 ± 0.02 | |||||
| Black seabass | 5 | 0.18 ± 0.02 | 14 | 0.16 ± 0.02 | NS | ||
| Weakfish (Squeteague) | 21 | 0.16 ± 0.03 | 15 | 0.21 ± 0.02 | 24 | 0.11 ± 0.02 | 11.1 (.004) |
| Cunner | 7 | 0.15 ± 0.03 | |||||
| Northern kingfish | 4 | 0.13 ± 0.07 | 44 | 0.21 ± 0.03 | 24 | 0.06 ± 0.01 | 26.7 (<.0001) |
| Summer flounder (fluke) | 109 | 0.15 ± 0.01 | 42 | 0.11 ± 0.02 | 107 | 0.14 ± 0.01 | 14.9 (.0006) |
| Atlantic croaker | 24 | 0.15 ± 0.01 | 37 | 0.10 ± 0.01 | 2 | 0.14 ± 0.04 | 9.8 (.008) |
| Scup (porgy) | 27 | 0.09 ± 0.02 | |||||
| Winter flounder | 58 | 0.06 ± 0.00 | |||||
| Ling | 28 | 0.03 ± 0.00 | 11 | 0.07 ± 0.02 | 16.4 (<.0001) | ||
| Atlantic menhaden | 5 | 0.01 ± 0.01 | |||||
Note. North includes fish from Jersey City, Raritan Bay, and Sandy Hook. Central includes fish caught between Point Pleasant and Atlantic City. South includes all locations south of Atlantic City. Given are arithmetic means ± SE with Kruska–Wallis chi-squared values and p values for each species comparing among regions.