muscle,
skin and bone--by date of sampling,
are given in Table 2.
The total number of samples analyzed was 1,775,
(446 fish x 4 tissues),
various reasons.
rather than 1,784
as nine samples were eliminated for
The standard deviation for these values has
little meaning and is not given in Table 2 because of the large
number of zero values and the non-random distribution of the
positive values.
range,
Instead,
the maximum values,
as a measure of
and the number of samples with positive values, as an
indication of distribution,
are given in Appendix Table 1.
Data
from Table 2 for "light muscle” and for “dark muscle" are presented graphically in Figure l.
Although few tuna were caught near Christmas Island,
the
amount of Rut in dark muscle of tuna from this area landed in
October
(the nuclide,
tissue and month with the largest radio-
activity values) was plotted by area of catch to determine if a
distribution pattern was evident.
No pattern was evident from
the 79 values plotted by areas 10 degrees square,as shown in
Figure 2,although the greatest values were in samples from the
area nearest Christmas Island.
To explore further the levels of
radioactivity in tuna caught near the test site,
the average
nuclide values,by tissue and month of landing, for 40 tuna caught
within 700 miles of Christmas Island are presented in Table 3.
By comparison with similar data in Table 2 for tuna from all areas,
the only values in Table 3 that are consistently greater are the
October Rul? values.