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RESEARCH ARTICLE

Polonium-210 in cartilaginous fishes (Chondrichthyes) from south-eastern Australian waters

JD Smith and PH Towler

Australian Journal of Marine and Freshwater Research 44(5) 727 - 733
Published: 1993

Abstract

A study was made of the concentration of the naturally occurring radionuclide polonium-210 in the livers of cartilaginous fishes (chondrichthyans) caught in the waters of Port Phillip Bay, Victoria, Australia in 1991. Five elasmobranch species had 210Po concentrations in the range 1-31 Bq kg-1 (wet weight) and one holocephalian species, the elephant fish (Callorhynchus milii), was exceptional with a 210Po range of 60-270 Bq kg-1 (n=3, mean 180 Bq kg-1). Lead-210 was present at 0.1- 1.1 Bq kg-1 and activity concentration ratios of 210Po:210Pb were all greater than 1, indicating that the 210Po could not all have grown in from in situ decay of 210Pb within the chondrichthyan liver. The concentration of 210Po in the livers appeared to be species related. Concentrations of the trace metals Cu, Fe and Zn showed no correlation with the 210Po and were not species-related. The mean concentration of 210Po measured in Port Phillip Bay water was 0.32 mBq kg-1. This yields concentration factors of 3.2 × 103 to 8.4 × 105 for unsupported 210Po in the livers of the chondrichthyans. The total 210Po (using Q=20) exposes the livers to a weighted absorbed dose of up to 140 mGy year-1 (16µGy h-1), which is >99% of the total internal dose and three orders of magnitude greater than the external dose based on estimated levels of 40K.

https://doi.org/10.1071/MF9930727

© CSIRO 1993

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