73
the common reef fish of the area.
By comparing the levels of both stable and radioactive
zine
in these two species of fish,
it was expected that evi-
dence could be obtained which would indicate whether or not
radioactive zine from airborne fallout had,
gested from the data of earlier surveys,
solid phase in sea water.
as had been sug-
become bound to a
Stable zinc is present in the dis-
solved state in sea water (Krauskopf,
1956) and is available
to marine organisms regardless of their feeding habits.
fore,
in both surgeon fish and goatfish,
There-
tissues having a simi-
lar function and a specific metabolic requirement for zinc
should have roughly comparable levels of stable zinc.
versely,
Con-
if the radioactive zinc from airborne fallout becomes
bound to a solid phase in sea water,
its availability to marine
organisms would be largely restricted at first to pelagic primary consumers,
the heterotrophic plankton,
secondary consumers,
the carnivores.
with a specific requirement for zinc,
and then to the
Consequently,
in a tissue
one would expect to find
little or no radiozine in the herbivorous surgeonfish,
tively high level in the benthic,
carnivorous goatfish,
relaand
roughly comparable levels of stable zine in both species.
In order to test this assumption,
select a type of tissue,
it was necessary to
common to both species of fish,
similar