Mercury (Hg) bioaccumulates and exerts toxic effects on freshwater fish upon assimilation into tissues. The Still River, USA, was subjected to severe Hg pollution as a result of the 19^th century hat-making industry. Our objective was to determine if the legacy Hg pollution from the hat industry continues to manifest as elevated Hg in the environment (sediment, water, and suspended particulates) and in the muscle and liver of fish from the Still River watershed. Rhinichthys atratulus (Eastern Blacknose Dace), a freshwater fish that display high site fidelity, was chosen as an indicator of total (THg) and methyl (MeHg) mercury bioavailability at four legacy polluted sites, and three reference sites. Still River legacy sites had significantly higher (p ≤ 0.0001) concentrations of THg in surface sediments (134.69 ng/g dw – 1990.00 ng/g dw) compared to reference sites (25.45 ng/g dw – 48.39 ng/g dw). Surprisingly, the average levels of THg in fish muscle were significantly lower (p ≤ 0.04) for fish from the majority of legacy sites (0.36 μg/g ww – 0.39 μg/g ww) compared to the majority of reference sites (0.47 μg/g ww – 0.52 μg/g ww). There was no significant difference (p ≥ 0.15) among liver THg concentrations for most sites and there was no significant relationship found (p ≥ 0.09) between either tissue type an any environmental parameters. Our results demonstrate that the presence of legacy Hg pollution does not directly translate into enhanced MeHg accumulation in fish.

汞（Hg）吸收到组织中后会生物积累并对淡水鱼产生毒性作用。静止河，美国，经受严重的汞污染作为19的结果^届世纪帽制造行业。我们的目标是确定制帽业遗留的汞污染是否继续表现为环境（沉积物，水和悬浮颗粒物）以及斯蒂尔河分水岭鱼类的肌肉和肝脏中汞含量升高。Rhinichthys atratulus（东部黑鼻D鱼）是一种具有高位保真度的淡水鱼，被选作四个旧污染点和三个参考点的总（THg）和甲基（MeHg）汞生物利用度的指标。斯蒂尔河遗存遗址的数量明显更高（p≤0.0001）与参考位置（25.45 ng / g dw – 48.39 ng / g dw）相比，表层沉积物中的THg浓度（134.69 ng / g dw – 1990.00 ng / g dw）。令人惊讶地，总汞的鱼肌肉的平均水平显著降低（p ≤0.04）对鱼从多数遗留站点（0.36微克/克湿重- 0.39微克/克湿重）相比，大多数的参考位点（0.47微克/ g ww – 0.52μg/ g ww）。没有显著差异（p ≥0.15）肝脏总汞浓度中对大多数网站并且没有显著关系，结果发现（p任一组织之间≥0.09）键入任何环境参数。我们的结果表明，遗留汞污染的存在并不能直接转化为鱼类中甲基汞的积累。