Hepatic copper levels may not indicate short-term exposure to waterborne copper in teleosts. Significantly higher copper loads were found in the gills of rainbow trout exposed to 105 μg · L-1 total measured copper for a period of 24 h than in control animals where no differences were recorded in hepatic copper levels. A second experiment exposing trout to 153 μg · L-1 total measured copper also demonstrated significant differences in branchial copper levels between control and exposed animals after 3 h exposure. The ratio of the copper load in the gills to the liver, and copper/zinc ratios of the gills were also examined. After exposure to 105 μg · L-1 for 24 h both gill/liver copper ratios and Cu/Zn ratios in exposed animals were significantly greater than in control animals. After 12 h exposure to 153 μg · L-1 total measured copper the gill Cu/Zn ratio was significantly greater than in control animals. These data indicate the gills may be a better indicator of short-term exposure than the liver.

Item Type:	Refereed Article
Research Division:	Agricultural, Veterinary and Food Sciences
Research Group:	Fisheries sciences
Research Field:	Aquaculture
Objective Division:	Animal Production and Animal Primary Products
Objective Group:	Fisheries - aquaculture
Objective Field:	Fisheries - aquaculture not elsewhere classified
UTAS Author:	Daglish, RW (Mr Ross Daglish)
UTAS Author:	Nowak, BF (Professor Barbara Nowak)
ID Code:	23888
Year Published:	2002
Web of Science® Times Cited:	9
Deposited By:	TAFI - Aquaculture
Deposited On:	2002-08-01
Last Modified:	2003-05-28
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