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Water Quality Control DivisionFish Tissue Analysis detailsAnalyte An analyte is just a way of saying which chemical are we testing for. The analytes this study most commonly tests for are Mercury (Hg), Selenium (Se), and Arsenic (Ar).Composite ID This number is the way we match our individual fish with the results the lab sends us. For example: (06222004BARRCCF04) The first eight numeric digits are the sample date in a MMDDYYYY format. The next four letters are the code for a particular water body. In this case BARR is for Barr Lake. The next three letters refer to a specific species of fish. You may find our list of abbreviations here. In this example CCF is for Channel Catfish. And the last two digits are just a sequence of where in the order of all the composites of this water body this particular sample falls. So in this example this would be the fourth composite.Result This is the actual concentration in milligrams per Kilogram (parts per million) that the laboratory reported to us. If there is a less than symbol "<" in front of the number, then there was a concentration lower than the lab could detect. The following number in this case would be the lowest level the lab could detect.Units Our lab reports all concentrations to us in milligrams per Kilogram, this means the same thing as parts per million. So for example 1 mg/Kg would mean that for a million parts they looked at they only found 1 part of interest. This is kind of like one penny in ten thousand dollars.Sample Date This is the date that the harvesting agency gathered the fish. In our case it is usually the Colorado Division of Wildlife.Submit Date This is the date that our study turned in the samples to the lab to be analyzed. This occurs after quite a bit of work has been done on the fish to prepare them for the lab.Analysis Date This is the date that our laboratory actually performed the test.Report Date This is the date that our laboratory gives us the results of the tests.Sample ID This is a unique number we assign to each fish that enters our study. Its format is very similar to the composite ID. For example: (06222004BARR025) Again the first eight digits are the date. The next four letters are the water body code. And in this example this fish was the 25th gathered for our study.Species This is a code that is unique to each species of fish. Species abbreviationsLengthThis is the length of the fish in millimeters. For reference there are 25.4 millimeters per inch. So for example a fish that is 620mm long is 24.4 inches long. Length relates pretty well to age in fish and we have found strong agreement between length and mercury levels.
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