Total Mercury and Methylmercury Distribution in Paguellus bellottii Fish from Soumbedioune Beach, Senegal

Birame Ndiaye,Abdoulaye Diop,Cheikh Tidiane Dione,Ibrahima Diagne,Dame Cissé,Momar Ndiaye,Benita Pérez Cid,Maoudo Hane

doi:10.34198/ejcs.4120.6776

Birame Ndiaye, Abdoulaye Diop + Show 6 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.34198/ejcs.4120.6776

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Abstract

Paguellus bellottii fish proceeding from Soumbedioune beach (Senegal) were analyzed to evaluate their contents of total mercury and methylmercury. Simplified analytical procedures (microwave digestion and ultrasonic assisted extraction) were used for sample preparation. The total mercury content in fish varied between 0.0626-0.3542 µg/g, dry weight. The ANOVA analysis allows to conclude that significant differences (p <0.05) were not found between Paguellus bellottii fish from Soumbedioune beach. However, the mercury levels obtained were always lower than the European legislation limits for fish. The ratio methylmercury/total mercury varied between 42.3-42.8 % in fish tissues. A satisfactory correlation (p<0.0001; r = 1) was found between total mercury and methylmercury results.

Highlights

Mercury is an important pollutant of concern and one of the most studied, the factors that control bioconcentration and accumulation are not completely understood
The main aim of this work is to evaluate the content of total mercury and methylmercury in Paguellus bellottii fish proceeding from Soumbedioune beach, which are commonly used for human consumption
The analytical results obtained for total mercury and methylmercury in fish species are summarized in Table 1 and all of them are expressed in μg/g dry weight

Summary

Introduction

Mercury is an important pollutant of concern and one of the most studied, the factors that control bioconcentration and accumulation are not completely understood. The consumption of fish, marine bivalves and other seafood is considered one of the main ways of methylmercury intake in humans and, several organizations have published their own regulations in order to establish the maximum mercury levels in food and the tolerable weekly intake, in order to preserve the human health [2, 3]. The main aim of this work is to evaluate the content of total mercury and methylmercury in Paguellus bellottii fish proceeding from Soumbedioune beach, which are commonly used for human consumption. It permits to evaluate the pollution levels of the studied coastal ecosystem and extract conclusions about the safety of seafood products

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