Radionuclides Content in Tissues and Organs of Pumpkinseed Lepomis gibbosus (Linnaeus, 1758) from the Zaporizhzhia (Dnipro) Reservoir

Abstract

The article presents the results of studies on the content of artificial (137Cs, 90Sr) and natural radionuclides (226Ra, 232Th, 40K) in tissues and organs of various individuals of pumpkinseed Lepomisgibbosus (Linnaeus, 1758) from the Zaporizhzhia (Dnipro) reservoir. It has been revealed that in the bones of sexually mature pumpkinseed females, the content of radionuclides 137Cs and90Sr is 24.7% and 28.6% less, respectively, than in the bones of males. Summing up the materials of radioecological studies of 2017–2018, the following sequence of tissues and organs of the pumpkinseed by the ability to accumulate radionuclides was obtained: bone> muscle> scales> gills. Research results can be useful for further study on the fish radiation load in the basins of the Dnipro River and during monitoring radioecological research. It was determined that the content of radionuclides in the pumpkinseed muscles did not exceed the permissible levels of radionuclide content for fish as a food product (permissible levels of radionuclide content for 137Cs – 150 Bq/kg, 90Sr – 35 Bq/kg).