Model for Accumulation of Methyl Mercury in Northern Pike Esox lucius

A compartmental model of mercury residue accumulation in individual fishes is presented. The model assumes a single residue pool that acquires methyl mercury from respired water and with the diet. Uptake and clearance of residue are treated as functions of metabolic rate, which is itself size-dependent. The parameters for the model are estimated from a release-recapture experiment and from literature data, and the solutions produced by the model when using these estimates are compared with real-world data where the latter set of data is independent of the set that was used for parameter estimation. The correspondence between the calculatedconcentration of methylmercuryin lateral muscle tissue and empirically observed values is acceptable though the calculated values in the lower weight range are somewhat high. The possibility that the model may apply to other substances is discussed.