The Assessment of Total Hg Concentrations in Tissues of Tench (Tinca tinca L. 1758) Caught in the Oxbow Lakes of the Wisła River as a Risk for Consumers Health
摘要
The study aims to determine the mercury (Hg) content of tench (Tinca tinca L. 1758) organs from natural habitats around the middle Wisła River. The work is also an attempt to answer the question of whether the consumption of fish obtained there may have a potential impact on consumers’ health and which of the tench’s tissues is characterized by the highest burden of mercury. The determination of total mercury content in fish was performed through cold vapor atomic absorption spectrometry at a wavelength of 254 nm using AMA-254 (Altec Ltd., Czech Republic). The total mercury content in the fish tissues studied can be ranked in the following descending order: muscle, hepatopancreas, intestine, kidney, scales, gills, and gonads. The mercury content of muscle was more than 2.25 times that of the hepatopancreas, three times that of the intestine, and more than 3.7 times that of the kidney. It was found that older individuals had a statistically significant higher median mercury concentration in muscle than younger ones. The muscle tissue of Tench accumulates the most mercury, the level of which increases over time. Although the mercury concentration in the skeletal muscle does not pose a significant toxicological risk in general, in some older individuals, the values recorded exceed the permissible levels of 0.5 mg·kg−1. Therefore, limiting the consumption of tench meat to younger specimens whose body weight does not exceed 1.5 kg seems reasonable.