Mercury species of sediment and fish in freshwater fish ponds around the Pearl River Delta, PR China: Human health risk assessment

Abstract

This study investigated total mercury (THg) and methylmercury (MeHg) concentrations in five species of freshwater fish and their associated fish pond sediments collected from 18 freshwater fish ponds around the Pearl River Delta (PRD). The concentrations of THg and MeHg in fish pond surface sediments were 33.1–386 ng g −1 dry wt and 0.18–1.25 ng g −1 dry wt, respectively. The age of ponds affected the surface sediment MeHg concentration. The vertical distribution of MeHg in sediment cores showed that MeHg concentrations decreased with increasing depth in the top 10 cm. In addition, a significant correlation was observed between %MeHg and DNA from Desulfovibrionacaea or Desulfobulbus ( p < 0.05) in sediment cores. Concentrations of THg and MeHg in fish muscles ranged from 7.43–76.7 to 5.93–76.1 ng g −1 wet wt, respectively, with significant linear relationships ( r = 0.97, p < 0.01, n = 122) observed between THg and MeHg levels in fish. A significant correlation between THg concentrations in fish (herbivorous: r = 0.71, p < 0.05, n = 7; carnivorous: r = 0.77, p < 0.05, n = 11) and corresponding sediments was also obtained. Risk assessment indicated that the consumption of largemouth bass and mandarin fish would result in higher estimated daily intakes (EDIs) of MeHg than reference dose (RfD) for both adults and children.