-9-
on the species of fish.
For example, a halfbeak caught the day
after shot had comparatively high concentrations of radioactivity
in the skin (28% of total) and comparatively low amounts in the
bone (1% of total).
Presumably the radioactivity in the skin
was due to both adsorption and absorption, whereas it had not
yet reached the bone so soon after the shot.
The average counts
for viscera were higher in most fish for the first 100 days than
subsequently.
Differences in species in which there were 10 or
more samples are to be seen in the low concentration of total
radioactivity, for example, in the liver of wrasse, and the moderately high concentrations in bone and skin of goatfish (see
Appendix).
Correcting the percent of total activity per tissue from
the above table for the tissue weight by using the percentages
8, 63, 18, 2, and 9 as relative values of the total weight of
skin, muscle, bone, liver and viscera respectively, one uc of
radioactivity would be distributed as follows:
Skin
Muscle
Bone
Liver
Viscera
-079
061
-163
054
643
Variation in the Samples
The trend or decline in radioactivity fluctuates rather
widely, due, in part, to inadequate sampling and in part to
actual fluctuations in the amount of radioactivity in the Belle
Island area.
The downwind, downcurrent position of the island
relative to the target area would undoubtedly subject the Belle
region to varying amounts of effluent from the target area.