Ecotoxicology and Environmental Safety 102 (2014) 196–201

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Ecotoxicology and Environmental Safety

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/ecoenv

Mercury, lead, and cadmium in blue crabs, Callinectes sapidus,

from the Atlantic coast of Florida, USA: A multipredator approach
Douglas H. Adams a,n, Marc E. Engel b
a
Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, Fish and Wildlife Research Institute, 1220 Prospect Ave., #285, Melbourne, FL 32901, USA
b
Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, Food Safety Laboratories, 3125 Connor Blvd., #9, Tallahassee, FL 32399, USA

art ic l e i nf o a b s t r a c t

Article history: Blue crabs, Callinectes sapidus, from the Atlantic coast of Florida were analyzed for total mercury,
Received 2 October 2013 methylmercury, lead, and cadmium. Paired samples of two tissue types were analyzed for each crab,
Received in revised form (1) muscle tissue (cheliped and body muscles) and (2) whole-body tissue (all organs, muscle tissue and
13 November 2013
connective tissue), for evaluation of the concentration of metals available to human consumers as well as
Accepted 29 November 2013
estuarine predators. There were clear patterns of tissue-specific partitioning for each metal. Total
Available online 5 February 2014
mercury was significantly greater in muscle tissue (mean¼0.078 mg/g) than in whole-body tissue
Keywords: (mean¼ 0.055 mg/g). Conversely, whole-body concentrations of lead and cadmium (means ¼0.131 and
Contaminants 0.079 mg/g, respectively) were significantly greater than concentrations in muscle (means ¼0.02
Heavy metals
and 0.029 mg/g, respectively). There were no significant correlations between any metal contaminant
Mercury
and crab size. Cadmium levels were significantly greater in the muscle tissue of females, but, no other
Lead
Cadmium sex-related differences were seen for other metals or tissue types. Methylmercury composed 93–100% of
Blue crab (Callinectes sapidus) the total mercury in tissues. Compared to previous blue crab studies from different regions of the United
States, mean concentrations of mercury, lead, and cadmium were relatively low, although isolated groups
or individual blue crabs accumulated high metal concentrations.
& 2013 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction blue crabs were commercially landed in Florida in 2011, with

The Atlantic blue crab, Callinectes sapidus, is an ecologically and
economically important decapod crustacean that is widely distrib-
uted along the western Atlantic coast from Nova Scotia to northern
Argentina, including Bermuda and the Antilles (Norse, 1977). Blue
crabs have been introduced into and have become established in
European waters and have been found as an invasive species in San
Francisco Bay (Carlton, 1979; Cohen and Carlton, 1995). In the
southeastern United States they reside in shallow estuarine and
nearshore waters and are common within this region.
Blue crabs support large commercial and recreational fisheries
throughout coastal waters of the U.S. Atlantic, with 90,269,565 kg
(199,010,326 lbs) commercially landed in the U.S. in 2011 (personal
communication, National Marine Fisheries Service, Fisheries Statistics
Division, 2013). A total of 4,736,208 kg (10,441,552 lbs) of blue crabs
(hard shell) were commercially landed in Florida in 2011, with
1,643,418 kg (3,623,116 lbs) of that total landed from the Florida
Atlantic coast (Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission-
Fish and Wildlife Research Institute (FWC–FWRI), Marine Fisheries
Information System). Additionally, 34,722 kg (76,548 lbs) of soft-shell
n
Corresponding author: Tel.: 321 722 1206; fax: 321 984 4824.
E-mail address: Doug.Adams@MyFWC.com (D.H. Adams).
17,806 kg (39,256 lbs) of that total from the Florida Atlantic coast
(FWC–FWRI, Marine Fisheries Information System). Landings of blue
crabs by the recreational fishery in Florida waters are not known but
are probably significant (Murphy et al., 2007).
Sharp declines in abundance of blue crabs have been observed
in key areas within their range, including Florida, where historical
assessments indicate declines from the 1950s to the 1980s,
a possible increase to the mid-1990s, and another downward
trend during the late 1990s (Murphy et al., 2007). Stock assess-
ment data indicate a rebound in abundance during recent years in
Florida waters (Murphy et al., 2007). There were also significant
declines in the 1990s within the Chesapeake Bay of Maryland, USA,
which contains the largest blue crab fishery in the United States;
these declines were probably due to overfishing as well as poor
larval survival and habitat degradation (Miller et al., 2005; Aguilar
et al., 2008; Bunnell et al., 2010). The extensive and severe metal
contamination in the Chesapeake region (EPA/USGS/USFWS, 2012)
may contribute directly and indirectly to the decline.
A variety of contaminants, including metals, has been well
documented in the estuarine waters where this species occurs
along the U.S. Atlantic coast (Kennish, 2002). Within Florida,
metals in benthic sediments, in the water column, and in marine
and estuarine biota continue to be a concern (Hyland et al., 2003;
Rumbold et al., 2011; Harris et al., 2012).

0147-6513/$ - see front matter & 2013 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ecoenv.2013.11.029
 D.H. Adams, M.E. Engel / Ecotoxicology and Environmental Safety 102 (2014) 196–201
The Indian River Lagoon system (IRL) is a large estuarine
ecosystem spanning approximately 251.1 km (156 miles) of the
Florida Atlantic coast. This estuarine system is characterized by
relatively constrained water circulation, limited freshwater inflow
from inland sources, and restricted influence from the adjacent
Atlantic Ocean via five functional inlets. Coastal land uses along
the IRL system include diverse urban, suburban, industrial, and
agricultural development. Collectively, these characteristics make
the IRL and its fauna especially susceptible to pollution from local
and remote anthropogenic sources. Toxic metal contaminants in
portions of the IRL system have been found to be elevated in
sediment, water and clams (Trefry et al., 2008) as well as in some
estuarine fish species (Adams et al., 2003; Adams and Paperno,
2012).
Blue crabs are opportunistic omnivores and detritivores feeding
on a wide array of prey, including bivalves, fish, gastropods, and
other crustaceans, as well as plant matter (Laughlin, 1982; Perkins-
Visser et al., 1996). In their range, blue crabs are a significant
contributor to the structure of estuarine benthic communities
(Virnstein, 1979; Clark et al., 1999; Douglass et al., 2011). Blue crabs
are themselves prey for a large number of estuarine and marine
predators (Van Den Avyle, 1984; Hines, 2007). The overall feeding
ecology, life history, and behavior of blue crabs places them in
direct contact with metal contaminants in the environment via the
water column, sediments, and prey. Environmental contaminants
directly affect blue crab physiology; in studies comparing metal-
contaminated habitats with uncontaminated habitats, metals
reduced a blue crab's ability to capture active prey (Reichmuth
et al., 2009). Mercury has been shown to reduce survival of early
life history stages and to inhibit hatching (Engel and Thayer, 1998).
Depending on target tissues analyzed, results regarding metal
contamination in this species can be applied to multiple end-
points, including human health and consumption aspects, the
health and fitness of blue crabs themselves, as well as trophody-
namic implications of blue crabs as both predator and prey in
coastal ecosystems.
The objectives of this study were to quantify and interpret total
mercury, methylmercury, lead, and cadmium in blue crabs from the
Atlantic coast of Florida, within the Indian River Lagoon system.
Specifically, we investigated the differences in levels of these metal
contaminants in muscle (cheliped and body muscles) and whole-
body tissues (all muscle, hepatopancreas, gill, brain, gonad, diges-
tive tract and all associated soft tissues) in relation to crab size and
sex. This paired sampling design allowed us to assay the concentra-
tions of metals in the blue crab muscle tissues typically consumed
by humans in picked crab meat. Whole-body-tissue assays were
representative of the concentrations available to humans who
consume soft-shell crab, of which the entire body is eaten. These
whole-body concentrations are additionally helpful in understand-
ing contaminant concentrations available to estuarine and marine
predators that routinely consume blue crabs.
2. Methods and materials
2.1. Sample collection
Blue crabs analyzed in this study were collected from the Indian River Lagoon
system by FWC–FWRI's Fisheries-Independent Monitoring Program using haul
seines and otter trawls. Blue crab samples were collected near Edgewater, Florida
(  28158.000′N; 80153.210′W) south to Vero Beach, Florida (  27139.200′N;
80122.500′W). The entire IRL system is open to commercial and recreational
harvest of blue crabs, with the exception of a closed security zone at the north-
ernmost terminus of the Banana River Lagoon basin and Banana Creek adjacent to
the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's Kennedy Space Center
(Tremain et al., 2004). Samples were collected from September 2009 through
April 2010.
197
Blue crabs were placed directly on ice after collection and returned to the
laboratory, where species was confirmed and carapace width (CW), total weight
(TW), and sex recorded. Whole crabs were packaged individually in clean plastic
bags and frozen at  20 1C. Frozen samples were shipped to the Food Safety
Laboratories at the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services
(Tallahassee, FL), where they were kept frozen until assayed.
2.2. Tissue preparation
Each crab was laid on a clean surface dorsal side down with chelipeds pointing
away, then split down the sagittal plane with a clean stainless-steel knife. For one
half of each crab, solely muscle tissue was removed by picking and scraping with a
clean polypropylene transfer pipette. From the other half of the crab, all soft tissues
(all muscle, organs, and connective tissue) were removed with a clean polypropy-
lene transfer pipette. Each subsampled half of the crab was separately homo-
genized in an acid-washed food processor (Robo Coupe, Ridgeland, MS, USA or One
Touch Food Chopper, Black and Decker, Towson, MD, USA). Homogenized tissue
was transferred to a 50-ml polypropylene centrifuge tube. Samples were frozen at
 20 1C until extraction (FDACS, 2010).
2.3. Analysis of mercury, lead, and cadmium
Total mercury, lead, and cadmium concentrations were determined in blue crab
tissues following microwave digestion in 5 ml of Optima grade HNO3 (CEM MARSX,
Matthews, NC) by inductively-coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS; Perki-
nElmer Sciex Elan 6100) (FDACS, 2010). All samples were analyzed in duplicate.
Quality control samples included laboratory reagent blanks (after every 10 crab
samples), internal standards (recovery 60–125%), and analyses of standard reference
material (SRM 2976, NIST, Gaithersburg, MD). To verify mercury calibration (recovery
90–110%), standard reference material (SRM 1641d, NIST, Gaithersburg, MD) was
analyzed after each set of 10 samples and at the end of each analytical run. The
calibration verification standard for lead and cadmium was made from a second
source (High Purity Standards, Charleston, SC). A rinse solution of 200 ng/ml gold, 1%
HCl and 5% HNO3 was used after each analysis to prevent carryover. The internal
standard for mercury and lead was lutetium, and the internal standard for cadmium
was rhodium (FDACS, 2010). The ICP-MS analysis was run using the following
instrument conditions; nebulizer flow rate was 1.0 L/min, plasma gas flow rate was
15 L/min, and the auxiliary gas flow rate was 0.2 L/min. The RF power was
maintained at 1100 W. The masses monitored were; Cd 111m/z and 113m/z, Pb
208m/z, and Hg 201m/z and 202m/z. The quantification masses were 111m/z for Cd
and 202m/z for mercury. The response for masses 206m/z, 207m/z and 208m/z were
summed for Pb quantification.
2.4. Tissue analysis of methylmercury
Methylmercury was analyzed in duplicate by liquid chromatography induc-
tively coupled mass spectrometry (LC–ICP-MS) (Waters 2695, Milford, MA, USA and
Agilent 7500ce, Santa Clara, CA USA). Homogenates were extracted and analyzed
according to Hight and Cheng (2006), with the following modifications. Samples
were first screened using a liquid chromatography (LC) runtime of 20 min to
determine whether propylmercury (retention time  16 min) was present. Because
no propylmercury was present in the samples the LC runtime was reduced to
5 min. A previously analyzed methylmercury proficiency sample was used as the
quality control sample. The quantification standard was made fresh daily at
1 ng/ml. The LC–ICP-MS system was run under the following conditions; the
high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) mobile phase was 0.1%
L-cysteine þ0.1% L-cysteinedHCldH2O. The HPLC flow rate was 1.0 ml/min and the
injection volume was 50 ml. The HPLC column was a C-18 Phenomenex Synergi
4 mm Hydro-RP80A (150 mm  4.6 mm). The running conditions for the Agilent
7500ce ICP-MS were; nebulizer gas flow rate was 1.2 L/min, plasma flow rate was
15 L/min and auxiliary gas flow rate was 0.9 L/min. The RF power was 1500 W. The
monitored and quantification mass was 202 m/z.
2.5. Data analysis
The levels of quantification (loq) were 25 ng/g for mercury and cadmium,
10 ng/g for lead, 1.25 ng/g for inorganic mercury, and 4.24 ng/g for methylmercury.
The levels of detection (lod) were 7.57 ng/g for mercury and cadmium, 3 ng/g for
lead, 0.375 ng/g for inorganic mercury, and 1.27 ng/g for methylmercury. For metal
concentrations at concentrations below the level of quantification (bloq) or below
detection level (bdl), values of 1/2 the loq or 1/2 the lod were used to calculate
mean, median, and standard deviation. Percent methylmercury was determined by:


%MeHg ¼ MeHg=IHg þ MeHg  100
where MeHg is methylmercury and IHg is inorganic mercury. Level of detection
and loq for LC–ICP-MS analysis were determined by calculating 3  baseline noise
198 D.H. Adams, M.E. Engel / Ecotoxicology and Environmental Safety 102 (2014) 196–201

deviation
for lod and 10  baseline noise for loq. Zero was used for calculations when IHg

Mean Minimum Maximum Median Standard Mean Minimum Maximum Median Standard Mean Minimum Maximum Median Standard Mean Minimum Maximum Median Standard
results were below the detection level.

29.4

29.6

26.2
Linear regressions were used to describe relationships between crab size
(carapace width [mm] and total weight [g]) and metal concentrations (mg/g). When
appropriate, data were log-transformed to meet normality and homoscedasticity
requirements. A t-test or Mann–Whitney Rank Sum test was used, as appropriate,
122

127

110
to test for significant differences in metal concentration and sizes between males
and females and also between tissue types.
196

196

166
Carapace width (mm)

3. Results

A total of 51 blue crabs were collected from the Indian River

125.3 75

130.7 80

113.0 75
Lagoon (IRL) on the central Atlantic coast of Florida. Of the blue
crabs examined, 35 were male and 16 were female. Four of the
females were mature and 12 were immature (based on abdomen
shape). Males were not examined internally for maturity stage, but
deviation

based on size, the majority (approximately 80%) were likely

0.023

0.062

0.032

0.098
0.075
0.027

mature (Guillory and Hein, 1997; Guillory et al., 2001). All crabs
were at the intermolt stage. Carapace width (CW) ranged from
75 mm to 196 mm and total weight ranged from 23 g to 115 g
0.026

0.087
0.035
bloq
0.66

0.05

(Table 1). Males (mean CW ¼131 mm) were significantly larger

than females (mean CW ¼113 mm) (Mann–Whitney rank sum test
Cadmium (µg/g wet weight)

P¼ 0.040). Males (mean¼162 g) were significantly heavier than

0.442

0.442
0.271
0.143

0.143
0.121

females (mean ¼83.4 g) (Mann–Whitney rank sum test P¼ 0.001).

3.1. Total mercury concentrations

0.042 bloq

0.098 bloq
0.029 bdl

0.079 bdl

bdl

0.071 bdl

Mercury concentrations ranged from bloq to 0.295 mg/g for

whole-body tissue and from bloq to 0.416 mg/g for muscle tissue
bloq

(Table 1). Mercury was significantly more concentrated in muscle

tissue (mean¼0.078 mg/g70.065 SD, median¼0.061 mg/g) than in
deviation

whole-body tissue (mean¼0.055 mg/g70.046, median¼0.046 mg/g)

0.025

0.029

0.017
0.153

0.168

0.117

(Mann–Whitney rank sum test, P ¼0.004) (Fig. 1a). The blue crab
Total mercury, lead, and cadmium concentrations in blue crab, Callinectes sapidus, from the Atlantic coast of Florida.

with the highest total mercury concentration in muscle was an

0.055

0.054

0.061
0.017
0.011

0.011

adult male (165 mm CW, 0.416 mg/g), collected in September 2009

in the northern portion of the IRL within Canaveral National
Seashore in Mosquito Lagoon (  28151.972′N; 80147.140′W).
Mercury concentration was not significantly different between
0.058

0.381
0.139

0.139
Lead (µg/g wet weight)

0.55

0.55

males and females for either muscle tissue or whole body tissue
(P 40.05). No significant relationship was observed between
mercury concentration and carapace width (P 40.05) or total
0.019
bloq

bloq

0.019 bloq

weight (P 40.05).
bdl

0.021 bdl
0.131

0.141
0.02

0.11

3.2. Methylmercury concentrations

deviation

Both the muscle and whole body tissues of four crabs (124–
0.048
0.065

0.046

0.053
0.072

195 mm CW) within a broad representative range of total mercury

0.03

concentrations were analyzed for methylmercury (Table 2).

Methylmercury concentrations ranged from 0.063 to 0.337 mg/g
0.046

0.065

0.046
0.061

0.06

0.05

for whole-body tissue and from 0.113 to 0.493 mg/g for muscle
Total mercury (µg/g wet weight)

tissue. Percentage methylmercury in whole body tissue ranged

between 93% and 97% and in muscle tissue between 98% and 100%
0.295

0.295

0.227
0.416

0.416

(Table 2).
0.14

3.3. Lead concentrations

bloq ¼ below level of quantification
muscle 0.078 bloq

0.055 bloq

muscle 0.081 bloq

0.056 bloq

0.053 bloq
muscle 0.073 0.03

Lead concentrations ranged from bloq to 0.55 mg/g in whole-

body tissue and from bdl to 0.139 mg/g in muscle tissue (Table 1).
bdl ¼ below detection limit

Lead concentration was significantly greater in whole body tissue

(mean¼0.131 mg/g70.153 SD, median¼ 0.055 mg/g) than in muscle
Tissue

whole

whole

whole
body

body

body

tissue (mean¼0.020 mg/g70.025 SD, median¼ 0.011 mg/g) (Mann–

Whitney rank sum test Po0.001) (Fig. 1b). Three crabs with the
(n ¼ 35)
(n ¼ 51)

(n ¼ 16)

greatest concentrations of lead found in whole-body tissue analysis

indivi-

Females

were all relatively small males (102 mm CW, 0.550 mg/g; 121 mm
duals

Males
Table 1

CW, 0.441 mg/g; 112 mm CW, 0.429 mg/g). All of these crabs were
all

collected during April 2010 from the same location in the southern
 D.H. Adams, M.E. Engel / Ecotoxicology and Environmental Safety 102 (2014) 196–201 199

Table 2
Inorganic mercury (IHg), methylmercury (MeHg) and total mercury concentrations
and percentage methylmercury in blue crabs, Callinectes sapidus, from the Atlantic
coast of Florida.

Results (mg/g wet weight)

Sample Tissue IHg MeHg IHgþ MeHg % MeHg

Sample A Muscle 0.004 0.238 0.242 98

Sample A Whole body 0.005 0.196 0.201 97
Sample B Muscle 0.010 0.493 0.503 98
Sample B Whole body 0.014 0.337 0.351 96
Sample C Muscle 0.003 0.113 0.116 98
Sample C Whole body 0.004 0.063 0.067 93
Sample D Muscle bdl 0.224 0.224 100
Sample D Whole body 0.006 0.126 0.132 96

Percent MeHg was determined by [MeHg/(I Hg þ MeHg)]  100. In calculations,

when levels were below detection level (bdl), a value of 0 mg/g was used.

3.4. Cadmium concentrations

Cadmium concentrations ranged from bdl to 0.442 mg/g for

whole body tissue and from bdl to 0.143 mg/g for muscle tissue
(Table 1). Cadmium concentrations were significantly greater
in the whole-body tissue (mean¼0.079 mg/g70.075 SD med-
ian¼0.066 mg/g) than in muscle tissue (mean¼0.029 mg/
g70.027 SD, median¼0.026 mg/g) (Mann–Whitney rank sum test,
Po0.001) (Fig. 1c). Cadmium concentrations were significantly
greater in the muscle tissue of females (mean¼0.042 mg/g70.032
SD, median 0.035 mg/g) than in the muscle tissue of males
(mean¼ bloq, median¼ bloq) (Mann–Whitney rank sum test,
Po0.05). Cadmium concentration in whole-body tissue did not
differ significantly between females and males (Mann–Whitney rank
sum test, P40.05). Three crabs exhibited comparatively high whole-
body cadmium concentrations. Two of those crabs, an adult female
(136 mm, 0.442 mg/g) and an adult male (116 mm, 0.232 mg/g) were
collected in October 2009 from the same area of the southern IRL
between south Sebastian, FL ( 27148.278′N; 80126.475′W) and
Wabasso, FL ( 27145.528′N; 80125.593′W). The other crab, an adult
male (145 mm, 0.271 mg/g), was collected in September 2009 in the
northern portion of the IRL within Canaveral National Seashore in
Mosquito Lagoon ( 28146.810′N;  80146.672′W). No significant
relationship in cadmium concentration was detected between
whole-body or muscle tissue and carapace width (P40.05) or total
weight (P40.05).

4. Discussion

Muscle and whole-body concentrations of metal contaminants

Fig. 1. Box and whisker plots of (a) total mercury, (b) lead, and (c) cadmium in
muscle tissue and whole body tissue of blue crabs. The dotted line within the box
indicates the mean, and the solid line marks the median. The boundary of the gray-
shaded box closest to zero indicates the 25th percentile, and the boundary farthest
from zero indicates the 75th percentile. Whiskers (error bars) above and below the
box indicate the 90th and 10th percentiles. The upper black dot indicates the 95th
percentile, and the lower black dot represents the 5th percentile.
portion of the IRL near Vero Beach, FL (27139.270′N; 80122.550′
W). No significant difference was observed in lead concentration
between males and females in either whole body tissue (P40.05)
or muscle (P40.05). No significant relationship was detected for
either whole-body or muscle tissue between lead concentration
and carapace width (P40.05) or total weight (P40.05).
in blue crabs on the Atlantic coast of Florida were generally
low compared to those determined for other regions, with no
significant correlations between any metal contaminant and crab
size. Mean total mercury in muscle of blue crabs in our study from
the Atlantic coast of Florida (0.078 mg/g) was similar to that in
crabs in the estuarine waters of Connecticut (0.05–0.11 mg/g) (Jop
et al., 1997), and less than that in blue crabs from coastal waters of
New Jersey (  0.19–0.45 mg/g) (Reichmuth et al., 2010), Puerto Rico
(0.37–0.5 mg/g) (Sastre et al., 1999), and the Gulf of Mexico (0.138–
0.21 mg/g) (Evans and Engel, 1994; Cunningham et al., 2003; Lewis
and Chancy, 2008), including the estuarine waters of Pensacola, FL
( 0.15 mg/g) (Karouna-Renier et al., 2007). Similarly, mean lead
concentrations (0.020 mg/g) in muscle of blue crabs in our study
area were typically lower than those observed in muscle of
blue crabs from estuarine waters of Connecticut (0.01–0.12 mg/g),
New Jersey ( 0.21–0.04 mg/g), and Pensacola ( 0.3 mg/g) (Jop
et al., 1997; Karouna-Renier et al., 2007; Reichmuth et al., 2010).
200 D.H. Adams, M.E. Engel / Ecotoxicology and Environmental Safety 102 (2014) 196–201
Mean cadmium concentrations (0.029 mg/g) in blue crab muscle in
our study were generally lower than those observed in crabs from
Connecticut estuarine waters (0.05–0.40 mg/g) (Jop et al., 1997).
Mean cadmium concentrations were also generally lower than
those in composited muscle of blue crabs from Pensacola
(  0.07 mg/g), but these Gulf of Mexico results were classified as
bdl, with a detection limit of 0.16 mg/g (Karouna-Renier et al.,
2007).
Clear patterns of tissue-specific partitioning emerged for each
metal contaminant type between muscle and whole-body tissue
groups. Mercury concentration was significantly higher in muscle
tissue than in whole body tissue. Conversely, lead and cadmium
concentrations were significantly higher in whole-body tissue
than in muscle tissue. These findings are similar to those of
previous studies that found mercury concentrations in the hepa-
topancreas of blue crabs were typically lower than in muscle tissue
and that lead and cadmium levels were frequently greater in the
hepatopancreas than in muscle tissue (Jop et al., 1997; Sastre et al.,
1999; Reichmuth et al., 2010). Since the hepatopancreas is the
crab's largest organ and accounts for a significant portion of
whole-body tissue, its overall lower mercury concentration may
influence and reduce mercury in whole body tissue versus muscle
and subsequently influence the increased lead and cadmium
observed in whole body tissue versus muscle. Cadmium in the
water accumulates in the gills of blue crabs, and cadmium from
dietary sources accumulates primarily in the hepatopancreas
(Engel, 1983, Brouwer et al., 1995; Brouwer and Lee, 2007).
Cadmium in both the gill and hepatopancreas of blue crabs is
bound to the metal-binding protein metallothionein (Brouwer and
Lee, 2007). This tissue-specific assimilation of cadmium may
explain why cadmium concentrations were greater in whole-
body tissues than in muscle tissue in blue crabs.
Methylmercury is the most toxic form of mercury and bioac-
cumulates in many marine species (NRC, 2000). Methylmercury as
a percentage of total mercury in muscle tissue of blue crabs was
initially reported to be 35% (Ward et al., 10979). A review by Evans
and Engel (1994) showed a median 63% of total mercury in blue
crab was methylmercury. Our results indicate that 98–100% of the
total mercury in the muscle of sampled blue crabs was methyl-
mercury; and of the total mercury in the whole-body tissue of blue
crabs, 93–97% was methylmercury. These results are similar to
those (n¼ 3) for stone crabs, Menippe spp., from southwestern
Florida waters, where approximately 92% of the total mercury was
methylmercury (Thera, 2011).
Mercury, lead, and cadmium have no known biological function
and can be toxic to marine biota. Laboratory exposure of blue crabs
to environmentally relevant concentrations of these toxic metals
can reduce survival of megalopae and juveniles (Brouwer and Lee,
2007). It was suggested in a New Jersey study that environmental
contaminants, including mercury, impaired predatory behavior in
blue crabs (Reichmuth et al., 2010), however, further research is
needed to better understand the direct causes of this reduced
ability of blue crabs to capture active prey. Total mercury burden in
blue crabs from the Atlantic coast of Florida was generally less
than that seen in the New Jersey study, but possible effects of
mercury and other contaminants on blue crabs in our study area
have not been examined.
Many estuarine predators consume blue crabs, including a variety
of fish, reptiles, birds, as well as other blue crabs. Transmission of
contaminants from blue crabs to their predators has not been well
studied, but negative effects have been inferred. In a 1980 study in
the Mosquito Lagoon basin of the IRL, heavy metal exposure was
suggested as a cause of a fish kill involving approximately 100 large
red drum, Sciaenops ocellatus, a blue crab predator (Cardeilhac et al.,
1981). Stomach contents of red drum examined during this kill
consisted entirely of large, partly digested blue crabs (Cardeilhac
et al., 1981). Although metal concentrations were elevated in red
drum tissues compared with those in previous control samples of
this species, the exact causes of mortality were not determined.
(Cardeilhac et al., 1981).
Metal transmission from blue crabs to predators is especially
critical to those predators that consume large numbers of blue
crabs. One such predator is the bonnethead, Sphyrna tiburo, a small
coastal species of hammerhead shark with a specialized feeding
ecology. This species principally consumes crabs, and blue crabs
are a dominant prey item (Cortes et al., 1996; Adams and
McMichael, 1999). Bonnetheads occupy a lower trophic position
than many other shark species (Bethea et al., 2007; 2011) but in
Florida waters have been shown to bioaccumulate high total
mercury concentrations (to 1.6 mg/g in muscle) via their crab-
dominated diet (Adams and McMichael, 1999; Adams et al., 2003).
Because mercury accumulates in fish principally from dietary
sources (Trudel and Rasmussen, 2001; Wang, 2002), blue crabs
are an important source of mercury to this shark species.
Blue crabs are consumed by humans, and the subsequent
intake of mercury or other heavy metals from this species can
sometimes be significant in regard to human health (Lincoln et al.,
2011). Mercury in blue crab muscle can reach high concentrations,
especially in contaminated areas such as Superfund sites and other
known hazardous waste sites (Reichmuth et al., 2010), but mean
concentrations in our study were comparatively low. Similarly,
concentrations in whole-body tissues in our study were also
typically low. These whole-body-tissue concentrations serve as
the first results for blue crabs that are representative of contami-
nant burdens that would be consumed by humans as soft-shell
crab and by estuarine predators consuming whole crabs and can
be applied to multiple predator compartments within coastal
systems.
Acknowledgments
We greatly appreciate the efforts of personnel from the FWC–
FWRI Fisheries-Independent Monitoring Program in collecting
blue crabs for this study. We appreciate helpful comments from
B. Crowder, C. Crowley, K. Flaherty, R. Gandy, and R. Paperno that
improved this paper. This project was supported in part by funding
from the U.S. Department of the Interior, U.S. Fish and Wildlife
Service, Federal Aid for Sportfish Restoration Project Number F-43,
and by State of Florida saltwater recreational fishing license
monies.
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