Fluorides (F^-) are mainly deposited in bones and therefore they are determined in highly mineralized materials, obtained mainly from mammals and rarely from birds. In vertebrate brain and its glands F^- are assayed sporadically despite their negative influence on the nervous system. Moreover, F^- has been reported to disrupt the secretion of melatonin – a hormone produced by pineal gland. In vertebrates, the gland plays an important role in the detection of circadian and circannual changes in the light intensity of the environment. In certain conditions F^- may significantly accumulate in brain and pineal gland. The mammalian and avian pineal glands are called the fifth mineralizing tissue since it is one of tissues in the body where calcification occurs physiologically. In pineal gland of elderly was found a remarkably high F^- levels, reaching as much as 875 mg/kg ww and in the pineal calcifications >20,000 mg/kg. Fluorides have not been studied yet in brain and pineal gland of wild ducks. The aim of our study was to assay and compare F^- concentrations in the brain and the pineal gland in adult ducks of two species, one wintering in the Odra estuary (tufted duck Aythya fuligula, n=44) and the other in the Pomeranian Bay (velvet scoter Melanitta fusca, n=9), northwestern Poland. The material was collected in years 2008-2010. Fluorides were determined with a potentiometric method (using the Orion electrode) and expressed in concentration in dry weight, with the assumption that the duck brain contains 79% H₂O. In tufted duck F^- levels in the brain and pineal gland were within the following ranges: 77-593 and 674–38,645 mg/kg and in velvet scoter 93–551 and 176–2,269 mg/kg. Medians of F^- concentrations in the brains and glands in the tufted duck were 203 and 2360 mg/kg, and in the velvet scoter 174 and 462 mg/kg, respectively. Fluoride levels in the pineal glands, contrary to brains, showed significant differences (p<0.0001) between the examined duck species.

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