Fish Health and Radiation Exposure in Chernobyl-Area Lakes

Mature perch and roach health data were collected from lakes in Belarus and Ukraine at varying distances from the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant between September 2014 and September 2015. Measurements include age, weight, length, external disease signs, macroscopic tumors, and condition indices like Fulton's K, HSI, and GSI. The dataset provides a gradient of radiation exposure across seven categorized lakes to study long-term ecological impacts.

Use Cases

• Assessing fish population health based on condition indices (Fulton's K, HSI, GSI) across a radiation gradient.
• Investigating correlations between distance from Chernobyl NPP and prevalence of external disease signs or tumors.
• Studying reproductive status and potential impacts on fish populations using gonadosomatic index (GSI) data.
• Comparing the relative abundance and health of perch versus roach in contaminated freshwater ecosystems.

Strengths

• Covers a clear gradient of radiation contamination across seven lakes categorized as high, medium, and low exposure.
• Includes multiple sampling events across four seasons (September 2014, March 2015, June 2015, September 2015).
• Provides detailed biological measurements including condition indices (K, HSI, GSI) useful for health assessment.

Limitations

• Key metadata such as row count, specific column names, and license information are missing from all platform entries.
• The dataset's temporal scope is limited to a single year of sampling (2014-2015).
• Geographic coverage is specific to a limited number of lakes near Chernobyl, limiting broader generalizability.

Provenance

Source

Government Digital Service (listed on eu_open_data platform).

Collection Method

Field collection of fish from selected lakes, with subsequent laboratory measurements of health and reproductive metrics.

Time Range

September 2014 to September 2015

Freshness

Last updated metadata date is 2026-03-11, though the underlying data collection ended in 2015.

Geography

Lakes in Belarus and Ukraine, situated 1.5 to 225 km from the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant.