Retention of ingested 60Co by a freshwater fish

The experiment was carried out on a group of 10 carp receiving the soft tissue of previously contaminated lymnaea as food. Ingestion by carp of 45 daily rations, distributed over a 63-day period, resulted in a low retention of the radionuclide. The contamination kinetics showed that the steady state should be reached after only 225 days. The ⁶⁰Co transfer factor was approximately 10^?2 and the retention factor about 3.3 x 10^?3. During the depuration phase, radiocobalt elimination by the carp developed in accordance with an exponential model based on the existence of two biological half-lives of 1.5 and 35 days which indicate a high Co turnover. During both phases of the experiment, urinary and branchial excretion appeared to be higher than faecal excretion.