FOOD ITEMS. OTHER THAN LAND PLANTS
t
The values of radionuclides observed in food items other than land plants
are presented in Table 2.
categories:
The fish collected and analyzed are in two main
the reef fish and the pelagic, or "troll-caught" fish.
The
reef fishes are usually collected by throw nets by the Marshallese and are
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; and the gostfish, a bottom-feeding carnivore.
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
n
representative of the higher order caytvores.
The troll-caught fishes are all high-order carnivores and fall into two
broad subcatesories:
resiacent issos:. Tish, ulua and dogtooth tuna; 4
were caught in or near Enf Pass.
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migratory fish, yellowfin tuna.
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