International Journal of Marine Science 2015, Vol.5, No.21, 1-5
4
Regulation (EU) and Aquatic Environment
Monitoring Report as 0.30 and 2 mg/kg wet wt.
(Official Journal of the European Union, 2006; MAFF,
1995). In the present study the mean Pb level in the
muscle tissues is 0.25±0.03 mg/kg dry wt., indicating
that these values are below the guideline levels. The
mean Pb level in the liver is 0.57±0.07 mg/kg dry wt.
which seems that it is higher than guideline levels for
European Commission Regulation (Official Journal of
the European Union, 2006). It should be noted that the
metal levels of Commission Regulation were given
as mg/kg wet wt. According to FAO estimates of fish
consumption in Pakistan is 5 g per person (FAO 2010).
This is also equivalent to 35 g/week. Internationally
accepted safe levels of Zn, Cu and Pb are 7 mg, 3.5
mg and 0.025 per kg body weight per week for the
Provisional Tolerable Weekly Intake (PTWI),
respectively (FAO/WHO, 2010). These are equivalent
to 490 mg/week/70 kg body weight and 70 mg/day/70 kg
body weight for Zn; 245 mg/week/70 kg body
weight and 35 mg/day/70 kg body weight for Cu;
1.75 mg/week/70 kg body weight and 0.25 mg/day/70 kg
body weight for Pb. Estimated Daily Intake (EDI) for
a 70 kg body weight of an adult person on basis of the
muscle tissues results were calculated as 0.008±0.001
for Zn, 0.015±0.0006 for Cu and 0.0013±0.0002 for
Pb. Thereby there is no health threatening concern due
to the consumption of edible parts of the Chinese
silver pomfret from Karachi Coastal waters of Pakistan.
4 Conclusion
Generally, fish liver was found to have the highest
significant levels of metals. Therefore, the monitoring
of the fish is important with respect to toxic metals
affecting human health. However the estimates of
PTWI and EDI indicated no health risk as values are
lower than the allowed tolerable levels cited by
internationals committees. Thus, it can be concluded
that metals bioaccumulation in the Chinese silver
pomfret are below the permissible limits set for heavy
metals by FAO/ WHO (2010).
Author’s contributions
QA designed the experiment, carried out the fish sampling in
Karachi Harbor and measured the heavy metals. LB analyzed
data and made figures and tables and finalized the manuscript.
Both authors read and approved the final manuscript.
Acknowledgements
This work was supported by the Department of Zoology and
Centralized Scientific Laboratory, University of Karachi for
Scientific Research Project. Cooperation of Maintenance
Engineer Mr. Yousuf Khan of Centralized Science Laboratory,
University of Karachi, for sample analysis is also
acknowledged.
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