Heavy Metal Levels in Four Commercial Fishes Caught in Sinop Coasts of the Black Sea, Turkey

摘要

The aim of this study is to evaluate the levels of eight heavy metals (aluminium, arsenic, copper, zinc, mercury, iron, cadmium and lead) in the muscle tissue of Red mullet (Mullus barbatus), Whiting (Merlangius merlangus), Mediterranean horse mackerel (Trachurus mediterraneus) and Golden grey mullet (Liza aurata) caught from Sinop coast of the Black Sea during fishing season in 2012 and 2013. Metal analyses in fish were performed using ICP-MS (Inductively Coupled Plasma – Mass Spectrometer).The levels of Al, Hg, Cd, Pb and Cu in all fish species except T. mediterraneus for Cu were below the limit of detections. Mean Cu level in Mediterranean horse mackerel was 0.67 mg/kg wet wt. Highest value of Zn (24.7 mg/kg wet wt.) was also found in the T. mediterraneus which were about 7-8.5 times more than the other species.L. aurata have the highest Fe value (3.2 mg/kg wet wt.), but have the lowest As value (0.25 mg/kg wet wt.) compared with the other fish species. The levels of As for M. barbatus were high (1.3 mg/kg wet wt.) and followed by M. merlangus (1.24 mg/kgwet wt).The concentrations of the studied heavy metals were far below the established values by the Turkish Food Codex and Commission Regulation (EC). Therefore, their contribution to the total body burden of these heavy metals can be considered as negligibly small.