Mercury Contamination in Fish from Santarém, Pará, Brazil

This paper reports on total mercury concentrations in edible tissue from 11 fish species caught in the Municipality of Santarém, Tapajós River Basin, Pará State, which are most consumed by the local population and investigates the influence of the distance between the goldmining areas and Santarém city on fish contamination by mercury. It was found that the carnivorous species reached an average of 222.1 ng.g−1 (n=69), higher than the herbivorous species with 31.9 ng.g−1 (n=30) and the omnivorous species with 68.7 ng.g−1 (n=10). Significant relationships are found between fish weight and total mercury concentrations by using descriptive statistical and regression analysis for the two species, the carnivorous Pellona sp. (Sarda, r=0.73) and Pseudoplatystoma sp. (Surubim, r=0.63).