Fry hatched from eggs of Lake Michigan lake trout (Salvelinus namaycush) were exposed (beginning about 1 week after hatching) to contaminant concentrations of PCB's and DDE similar to those in water and plankton in southeastern Lake Michigan (1X level), and to concentrations about 5 (5X) and 25 (25X) times greater. Body concentrations of contaminants in fry (I?g/g) decreased at 1X levels of PCB's and at 1X and 5X levels of DDE, but generally increased at all other contaminant exposure levels. Uptake of PCB's and DDE was evident from increases in body burden (I?g/fish) of the contaminants at all exposure levels and the controls. Growth was not significantly affected by any of the contaminant exposures. Mortalities of fry exposed to the lower concentrations (1X and 5X) were significantly less than those of control fry before day 56; however, between days 57 and 136, mortality rates increased dramatically and were significantly higher in all nine exposed groups than in the control group. For the last 40-day period (days 137-176), mortality was low and leveled off, but continued to be significantly higher in all exposed fry (except those in 1X and 5X PCB's) than in control fry. By the end of the 176-day study, the total cumulative mortality ranged from 30.5 to 46.5% in the exposed groups and was 21.7% in the control group.
