Determination of heavy metal content in commercial marine fish hunted From Southeast Aegean Sea (Turkey) and their potential risk for public health

In this study, heavy metals such as Al, Cr, Cu, Zn, Cd, Hg, Pb etc. content in liver, muscle and gill of three economical marine species [striped seabream (Lithognathus mormyrus Linneaus, 1758), two-band bream (Diplodus vulgaris Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire, 1817) and Common pandora (Pagellus erythrinus Linneaus, 1758)] obtained from 4 stations (Fethiye, Bodrum, Datça, Marmaris) in South Aegean coast were analyzed. After tissues were mineralized with wet-ashing, their heavy metal concentrations were measured with inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS). According to the findings, sediment samples had more heavy metals than water samples and none of heavy metal concentrations in the water samples exceeded national legal limits. Furthermore it was reported that the accumulation of heavy metal in liver and gill was the highest whereas in muscle the proportion was the lowest. Results showed that the mean concentration of the studied heavy metals in muscle tissues did not pose a risk in terms of public health in comparison with the international standards.