Risk Assessment of Mercury and Arsenic Metals in Longtail Tuna (Thunus tonggol) and Blacrskspot Snaper (Lutjanus ehrenbergii) in the Oman Sea

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

1 Assist. Prof. Department of Environmental Science, Faculty of Natural Resources, University of Zabol, Sistan and Balochestan, Iran

2 Assist. Prof. Department of Environmental Science, Faculty of Natural Resources, University of Jiroft, Iran

Abstract

This study evaluates the risk of mercury and arsenic metals in the longtail tuna fish (Thunus tonggol) and blacrskspot snaper fish (Lutjanus ehrenbergii) in the Oman Sea for various people (adults, women and children). Mercury and arsenic concentrations in the fish muscle tissues were determined by using the standard methods D-6722 and chemical digestion, respectively. The number of 34 and 30 samples of longtail tuna fish and blacrskspot snaper fish were randomly selected, respectively. The mean mercury and Arsenic in the longtail tuna fish were obtained0.24±0.012 and 0.13±0.006µg/g wet weight, and they were in the blacrskspot snaper fish, 0.16±0.008 and 0.09±0.008 µg/g wet weight, respectively. The mean mercury concentration, only in the longtail tuna fish was exceeded than the US EPA standard set for mercury in the fish (0.1 μg/g wet weight).The mean arsenic concentration in longtail tuna and blacrskspot snaper fish were lower than the US EPA standard for arsenic (0.3 μg/g wet weight). The hazard quotient (HQ) was only higher than 1 for mercury concentration in the longtail tuna fish for children. The lowest monthly allowed consumption for arsenic were obtained in the longtail tuna fish for the women group (about 6.5 servings per month) and for mercury in the longtail tuna fish for the women group (about 3 servings per month), respectively. Generally, it is advised people apply the consumption restrictions to reduce exposure to these pollutants, while they used of the nutritional and health benefits of fish consumption.

Keywords

References

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Environmental Researches
Volume 11, Issue 21
Recerches
September 2010
Pages 299-308

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