the
: enemy
:
aan
—
.
.
=
d eeaeee Lal —bats ADwae BL
in mbt
Rcawth
a Et tah emer ee a
ne
a a ached eee oe lh areolaa
eblia l ad .
STRONTIUM-90 AND GROSS BETA ACTIVITY IN THE FAT AND
i
TR hy
NON-FAT FRACTIONS OF COCONUT CRAB (Birgus latro) LIVER
COLLECTED AT RONGELAP ATOLL DURING MARCH 1958
INTRODUCTION
There has been a large individual variability in the levels of radio|
activity per unit weight of biological samples collected in the vicinity of
the Eniwetok Test Site (1,2,3,4,5).
This variability may be great
enough to mask or obscure differences which might exist between species
or with time or locality of collection.
Practical considerations do not
permit, in most cases, increasing the number of samples in an attempt
to elucidate possible differences.
The work reported in this paper points
Out a source of variability that exists in comparing the radioactivity of
various samples of coconut crab liver.
Birgus latro, the coconut crab,
edible and known to concentrate
paring samples
is of particular interest since it is
strontium-90.
In the
course of pre-
of Birgus latro liver for radioassay, it appeared
that
the fat content varied considerably from specimen to specimen.
crude determination indicated that the fat contained little
A
or no radio-
activity, which was expected because of the low mineral contentof fat.
It was therefore decided to determine accurately the fat content
i4
:
A
J
and the proportions of strontium-90 and gross beta activity in the fat
ie
eh
u