i eat fish probably 2x a month so i have never really thought about mercury levels. can young children eat crappie from dfw area lakes without worry? does anyone know much about this subject?

CNN just posted an interesting article about this subject a few days ago. Here are the two most relevant paragraphs from that article:

"Fish most likely to contain mercury are shark, swordfish, king mackerel and tilefish. These fish should be avoided by women in the groups that may be most affected, and also by small children, the guidelines say."

"On the other hand, the guidelines suggest eating up to two meals a week, totaling 12 ounces, of fish known to be low in mercury such as shrimp, canned light tuna, salmon, pollock and catfish."

I'm afraid that the article doesn't specifically mention anything about crappie.

Mercury is not a problem in the north Texas lakes, as the ph of the water is high and prevents mercury from going into solution. It is more of a problem in east Texas, where the water is more acid, however. You can tell by the pine trees. No pine trees growing around the lake, alkaline soil - pine trees around the lake, acid soil. My kids have been eating crappie their whole lives, and while I can't say for sure they are normal , they have not suffered any ill effects from my weekly fish fries.

Another interesting website on FDA on Mercury levels in fish.
http://www.epa.gov/ost/fishadvice/advice.html

and

Benefits and Risks from Eating Fish

Clickable Texas map of Advisories and Bans

Listing of Waterbodies with Advisories or Bans




http://www.tdh.state.tx.us/bfds/ssd/fiscount.html

Texas has a booklet about this at:
http://www.tdh.state.tx.us/bfds/ssd/

No need to worry about mercury levels in crappie. Typically mercury levels are only high in larger long lived fish that are near the top of the food chain. It is found in fish in the form of methyl mercury and accumlates in the fatty tissue. The biggest problems we have in Texas lakes and rivers are bacteria from untreated sewage water and some chemicals such as chlordane. Chlordane was used to treat for termites at one time and it is very persistent in the environment. Dioxins are sometimes a problem in some water bodies.