important items in their diet.
Of the more than 700 species of reef fishes at Bikini Atoll,
we selected three species commonly eaten by the Marshallese and
representative of three feeding habits: the mullet,* a plankton
feeder;
the convict surgeonfish,
a grazing herbivore;
goatfish, a bottom-feeding carnivore.
and the
The specific radionuclides
found in fish and their concentrations are often associated with
feeding habit, hence this was a necessary consideration in
selecting samples representative of the kinds of fish which would
be eaten when the Bikinians return.
A fourth kind of reef fish,
groupers, was also collected as respresentative of the higher
order carnivores.
mv
The troll-caught fishes are all high-order carnivores and
fall into two broad subcategories: resident lagoon fish, ulua
and dogtooth tuna; and migratory fish, yellowfin tuna.
caught in or near Enyu Pass.
All were
Bikinians who were part of the
clean-up crew cut filets from the yellowfin tuna and preserved
them by salting.
They said tuna is one of their favorite fish
and, presumably, would fish for tuna if they return to Bikini.
The invertebrates sampled were the spiny lobsters
coconut crab and "giant" clams
hippopus).
(Tridacna sp.,
(langouste),
and Hippopus
Some of the species of Tridacna never exceed a few
centimeters in length, and only the smaller species were found
* For a list of common names and scientific names,
Appendix Table 16.
see