Sandimirov S. Specific Features of Accumulation of Cu, Ni, Zn, Cd and Hg in Two Whitefish Coregonus lavaretus (L.). Morphs Inhabiting the Inari-Pasvik Lacustrine-Riverine System. Inland Water Biology. 2011, Vol. 4, №, p. 383-392.

ISSN 1995-0829, Inland Water Biology, 2011, Vol. 4, No. 3pp. 383—392. © Pleiades Publishing, Ltd., 2011. __________________________________ AQUATIC __________________________________ TOXICOLOGY Specific Features of Accumulation of Cu, Ni, Zn, Cd, and Hg in Two Whitefish Coregonus lavaretus (L.) Morphs Inhabiting the Inari—Pasvik Lacustrine-Riverine System N. A. Kashulin", P. M. Terentyeva, P.-A. Amundsen*, V. A. Dauvaltera, S. S. Sandimirova, and A. N. Kashulina aInstitute ofIndustrial Ecology Problems of the North, Kola Science Center, Russian Academy o f Sciences, ul. Fersmana 14a, Akademgorodok, Apatity, 184209 Russia bNorwegian College ofFishery, Science University of Tromso, Breivika, N-9037, Tromso, Norway Received June 11, 2010 Abstract —The spatial regularities of the accumulation of heavy metals in two ecological morphs ofwhitefish of the Pasvik River (northern Fennoscandia) under long-term pollution have been investigated. It was revealed that the accumulation of priority pollutants (Ni and Cu) in fish declines the further you go from the source of pollution. The concentration of Hg in the tissues of fish from the Pasvik River was determined for the first time. It was found that metal accumulation depends on the ecological morphs of the fish, the natural conditions of the waterbodies, and the intensity of pollution. The specific features of heavy-metal distribution in the “bottom sediment-fish organism” system were determined. These may indicate the heterogeneity of the pollution processes of the Pasvik system ofwaterbodies. Keywords: heavy metals, gradient pollution load, Coregonus lavaretus, global pollution. DOI: 10.1134/S1995082911030126 INTRODUCTION Waterbodies located at areas affected by the metal­ lurgical industry have increased levels o f heavy metals (Ni, Cu, Co, Cd, Cr, Hg, etc.) [2, 3, 11, 19]. Mobili­ zations o f heavy metals (HMs) accumulated in the soils on the watershed areas may result in increased environmental concentrations o f these pollutants, which may remain at high levels for several centuries, in effect being toxic forever [17]. In regions subject to HM pollution, the migration pathways o f these ele­ ments from the source o f pollution to living beings may be traced using an assessment o f the contam inant levels in various components o f the environment (water, bottom sediments (BSs), invertebrates, and fish). The biological roles o f HMs are different since many o f them serve as microelements for living beings. However, the excessive uptake o f these elements in an organism may cause dose-dependent pathological processes. Toxic effects o f HMs in fish are manifested at various levels o f organization, including cellular and subcellular, organ—tissue, and physiological—bio­ chemical; in the end, this determines the degradation o f a population [15, 20, 23]. The Pechenganickel smelter plant is one of Europe’s largest copper—nickel smelters and is located at the catchment area of a large (20 890 km2) bordering lacustrine—riverine system in northern Fennoscandia: Inari Lake—Pasvik River [1, 4, 22]. This system is a chain o f reservoirs situated at different distances from the smelter and subject to the long-term impact of both wastewaters and contaminants transferred via the atmosphere (HMs and acidifying compounds). The negative consequences o f these processes have been described earlier and are manifested in the transfor­ mation o f communities o f aquatic organisms and ter­ restrial cenoses [1, 2, 19, 22]. Recently, the influence that processes o f global environmental contam ination by Pb- and Hg-containing compounds have on bio­ logical systems have become increasingly important due to their transboundary transfer and precipitation in the Arctic latitudes [12, 14]. The goal o f this paper is to reveal the recent spatial regularities o f HM accumulation in the organism o f the common whitefish, Coregonus lavaretus (Lin­ naeus, 1758) in the waterbodies o f the Pasvik River basin at different distances from the Pechenganickel smelter plant. MATERIALS AND METHODS The materials collected during studies at the Pasvik River carried out in 2002—2008 served as the basis for this paper. The studies were undertaken as part o f the international program InterReg IIIA “Development and Realization o f Environmental Monitoring and the Assessment Program in the Finland, Norway and Rus­ 383