International Journal of Marine Science, 2016, Vol.6, No.10, 1-8
1
Research Article Open Access
Heavy metal levels in tissues of
Merlangius merlangus
(Linnaeus, 1758) from the
Black Sea coast of Turkey and potential risks to human health
Levent Bat , Elif Arıcı
University of Sinop Fisheries Faculty Department of Hydrobiology, Akliman 57000 Sinop, Turkey
Corresponding email
International Journal of Marine Science 2016, Vol.6, No.10 doi
Received: 20 Jan, 2016
Accepted: 24 Mar., 2016
Published: 24 Mar., 2016
Copyright
© 2016 This is an open access article published under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use,
distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Preferred citation for this article
:
Bat L., and Arıcı E., 2016, Heavy metal levels in tissues of
Merlangius merlangus
(Linnaeus, 1758) from the Black Sea coast of Turkey and potential risks to
human health, International Journal of Marine Science, 6(10): 1-8 (doi
Abstract
In this study, heavy metal concentrations (Fe, Zn, Mn, Co, Cu, Cr, Pb, Cd, Ni, Al and Hg) were analysed in muscle, liver,
eggs and gills of
Merlangius merlangus
caught from the Sinop coast of the Black Sea between September 2014 and February 2015.
Al, Ni and Hg in all tissues were below the detection limits. Cd and Pb were not detected in the edible parts of
M. merlangus
. Gill
and liver tissues showed higher metal concentrations than edible tissues including eggs. The highest concentrations were found in
gills (Fe: 57±9 mg/kg wet wt., Mn: 2.4±0.2 mg/kg wet wt., Cr: 0.65±0.05 mg/kg wet wt. and Pb: 0.88±0.006 mg/kg wet wt.) and in
liver (Zn: 43±6 mg/kg wet wt., Co: 0.88±0.03 mg/kg wet wt., Cu 0.41±0.02 mg/kg wet wt. and Cd: 0.075±0.006 mg/kg wet wt.). The
lowest metal levels were determined in muscle tissues of whiting followed eggs. Thus the concentration of heavy metals in edible
part of whiting did not exceed the permissible limits proposed by European Union and Turkish regulations, MAFF, EFSA. The
average weekly intakes of heavy metals studied per body weight values not exceeded the Provisional Tolerable Weekly Intake (PTWI)
established. Therefore, it may be concluded that these 11 heavy metals should not pose any health threat to the consumers resulting
from the consumption of
M. merlangus
.
Keywords
Heavy metals;
Merlangius merlangus
; Sinop coast; Black Sea; Provisional Tolerable Weekly Intake (PTWI); Estimated
Daily Intake (EDI); Estimated Weekly Intake (EWI); Legal thresholds, Commission Regulation (EC)
1 Introduction
The harmful effects of heavy metals in fish on human health are of great interest in Marine Strategy Framework
Directive (Official Journal of the European Union, 2008). Some of these metals are toxic to living organisms even
at low concentrations when ingested over a long time period, whereas others are biologically essential and become
toxic when their intake is excessive (Phillips and Rainbow, 1994). Heavy metals may enter the Black Sea from
different natural and human activities, including industrial and domestic wastewater, shipping, harbour and
touristic activities, inorganic fertilizers, storm runoff, leaching from landfills and geological weathering of the
earth crust and atmospheric deposition (Bat, 2014; Bat and Özkan, 2015; Bat et al., 2015). When metals enter the
marine ecosystem can be accumulated in biota through the effects of bioaccumulation via the food chain process
and become toxic when accumulation reaches substantially high concentrations. Fish are generally at the top of
the aquatic food chain and may concentrate high levels of some metals via skin, gills, oral consumption of water,
food and non-food particles (Heath, 1991). Therefore it is highly important to determine and monitor heavy metal
levels in fish because of their easily accumulation in such food compared and course harmful effect on human
health by their consumptions. It is well known that fish is one of the most important seafood to be eaten for a
healthy life because it has a high protein quality and unsaturated fatty acids.
M. merlangus
is highly commercial fish and frequently consumed in Sinop of the Black Sea (Bat et al., 2013a).
They are utilized fresh, dried or salted, smoked and frozen; eaten steamed, broiled and baked (Murua and
Saborido-Rey, 2003). They feed on mainly shrimps, crabs, molluscs, small fish and polychaetes (Cohen et al.,
1990). Quantity of caught whiting from the Turkish Black Sea waters is 9,555.1 metric tons in 2014 (TUIK,
2015).
