Less mercury in Crappie then...

[Fishin_Magician]

I have continued to look into the mercury levels in crappie in my state (LA). I believe that they do contain less mercury then some fish that swim along side them in the state of Louisiana. Thought this might come as good news to fellow crappie fishermen.

I derive my conclusion first from the consumption advisories and then from the actual data that the advisories are created from. First of all out of 29 consumption advisories for my state 25 of them contain a listing for Largemouth Bass and Bowfin. So those two get the "toxic avenger" awards for mercury in fresh water fish species. There were only a couple listing for crappie consumption advisories. In most cases the advisory for crappie was lumped into the "all other species" category which allowed for more portions a week. (which would also support the theory that there is less mercury in those species)

But the real evidence is the raw data from the EPA. They post data from individual fish samples in excel spreadsheet format. Link to that data is here --> http://www.deq.state.la.us/surveilla...ryFishData.xls

If you click on the results tab at the top and select that row you can then go to Tools --> sort ---> click ok --> choose sort ascending and it will sort list by Results (which is level of mercury in parts per million). You will notice that Bowfin, Largemouth Bass, and various saltwater species will jump to the bottom of the list as the most contaminated. It seems regardless of water body they have higher concentrations of mercury then our delicious pan fish.

Conclusion: Ever seen that bass fishermen blow past your boat at 97 MHP and think he was crazy... well maybe he needs to practice more catch and release...

We know that the further up the food chain an animal is the more it will concentrate contaminants in its body. If a large predator fish's diet contains smaller predator fishes it will compound the mercury levels already found in that smaller predator. That would explain why the Bowfin and Largemouth are high on the rankings and panfish are lower. The high metabolism might also play a large roll in that. Crappie are structure stalkers with low metabolisms meaning they eat less and grow more. (older crappie has eaten less shad in his life then old bass) A bass however is a very active open water fish with a higher metabolism rate which cause it to eat more and grow less.

But whatever you do you probably would not want to filet and eat me. I figure I am further up the food chain then bass and probably have eaten enough crappie to have about 50 parts per million pumping through my veins.

~Fishin' Magician~

[labill]

Hey FishinMagician.........Good post. I've come to the same conclusion about the mercury situation, but I think I will stick to the smaller crappie (less than 2 lbs.) My mama always told me I was too hard to raise to die of anything but old age! :D

[GABoy]

Hey there -

I have re-analyzed the data, removing the date of the sample, location of the sample and re-averaged the data. This will in turn give you a look at the fish that averaged the highest mercury readings in all of the Lousiana data provided. This is based on all the data that was in that spreadsheet, just summarized a step further and put in order of Worst Fish to Best Fish based on species.

I also took and converted the units of measure. I took and converted the grams to pounds and the centimeters to inches, so it will hopefully be more understandable.

I hope it helps.

Sorry, I can't attach it, the file may be too big. I will email it to Ed to see if he can find a good way to post it for you.

Thanks - Damien

[GABoy]

I have emailed the re-analyzed data to Ed and Bill.

If they feel it is a worthwhile use of resources, maybe we will see it posted later. It will just give you a look at a species overall instead of it broken out by date, species, location, etc.

[J White]

Hey Fishing Magician, I tried to go to the link you gave, but my silly
computer says something about the site using Active X in an unsafe
manner and won't Gee-Haw with it - could you tell me anything about
the mercury levels in paddlefish? I love to eat them, but of late have
been a little concerned with mercury as they come from the MS River,
and are ooold... Thanks,

[Fishin_Magician]

J White,

Not sure about paddlefish on mercury. The data from EPA on Louisiana fish only has "game fish" so only Channel, Blue, and Flathead are given.

Catfish do tend to have high levels of mercury but usually rank below Large Mouth Bass, Bowfin, and Freshwater drum in the same water body. I did notice when I was taking a look at the catfish entries that Flathead catfish have a greater number of listings with high contamination (over 1.0 parts per million). Looks like any large predator at the top of the food chain will regular reach these high levels of contamination in a polluted water body.

With that in mind you might look at the diet of the paddlefish. Got this info on what they eat off another web site...

Diet:
Adult Paddlefish are filter feeders and swim slowly through the water with their mouths wide open to strain water to catch tiny zooplankton.

Juvenile Paddlefish are more active predators and have been known to feed on crustaceans and small fish.

I am not a professional marine biologist or Ichthyologist so I cannot say for sure but I would guess the Flathead catfish has a greater mercury contamination then a Paddlefish from the same water body. Reason I would guess this is the diet of a Flathead contains many other older organisms that are further up the food chain and therefore more contaminated. The Paddlefish's diet at adult stage is primarily tiny zooplankton that are very low on the food chain and should not be very contaminated.

It would all depend on the mercury contamination of tiny zooplankton in the Mississippi.

~Fishin' Magician~

P.S. how do you cook the paddlefish?

[J White]

thats what me and my buddies call them anyway - poor man's billfish.
Once in a great while you hang one just right, and it will jump several
times, great big belly-flopping splashes. It is awesome to see a 30-50
lb. fish clear the water 2 or 3 feet! When they are in the air, they wiggle
and twist just like the big marlin on TV. We are in the spillway when
doing this, and it is common to have boats directly above and below
you, anchored and casting out to each side - I once nearly had the guys
upstream of me abandon ship when the 40 pounder I had on jumped about
2 feet behind their motor, with one 9/0 treble buried and the other 2
(and 3 oz. bank sinker) flailing around in every direction! They can peel
off 80 lb. super braid of a big Penn reel so fast, it will whistle where it
cuts through the water - going upstream against the current!
But about cooking them, first the cleaning: We hang them from a tree
and "ring" around their tail with sharp knife, not cutting through the
cartilidge - then twist and pull - tail comes off with the whole spinal
cord attached. Blood will pour, let 'em drain a few minutes. Split
the belly and remove guts, douse off with water, and slide a garbage
bag around the body while your buddy cuts the head loose. We ice them
down then. Later, we cut them crossways in about 1 1/2" thick steaks,
and lay this down on cutting board. Trim out the cartilidge and the dark
red meat and throw away - leaves two snow-white "fish sticks" from
each steak. I have rolled them in flour and cooked like fried chicken,
also corn meal and treated like crappie fillets. They are GOOD! Hate
to say it, but better than crappie! Odd texture, looks more like pork
than fish. But it makes no difference I have seen how big they get,
still tender. Our season only last from Oct. 1st to end of Nov. I can't
wait! The high point of my year. I started something two years ago
though, went up in the upper lake and caught a mess of crappie,
we cooked them and ate them on the spot. Now my buddies expect
it every year! :D :D :D

[NIMROD]

We used split the Paddlefish down the middle and remove red meat and cartilage from the 2 fillets. Wash them and dry off. Place on a buttered baking pan , cover with real butter, lemon, garlic,salt, and black pepper. Bake at 350 degrees till done. Cut into squares and make fish sandwiches.
I don't care for fried Paddlefish as they tasted muddy to me. The eggs sell 25.00 or more per lb , used to make caviar.
Have not had one in years since we stopped snagging. We must release them all now net fishing unless purchasing a roe takers permit . The permit costs 500.00 ,so we dump them back in.

[JCCLARK]

Here in Louisville, for the Ohio River, Crappie is the only fish to NOT have
a maximum amount you can eat per week.
I think it's due to their diet, Contrary to what people believe, crappie
like insects and eat less fish than the others, and the fish they eat are
small so they get less mercury.
Mercury is accumalative, so the older the fish, the more mercury.

Mercury is in the rain, most come from coal fired power plants.
So any body of water that gets rain has mercury.