Heavy metals in Freshwater Fish

Freshwater Fish overview

Freshwater Fish in the HMI library has 2,929 reported results for lead, cadmium, total arsenic, inorganic arsenic, dimethylarsinic acid, monomethylarsonic acid, arsenic, total mercury, methylmercury, mercury, nickel, chromium, aluminium, tin, antimony, Co, Cu, Fe, Mn, Zn, V, Se, Ag, As, As(V), AsB, Ba, BTs_sum, DBT, DOT, DPT, I, Li, MBT, Mo, MPT, oAs, OTC_sum_as_Sn, PTs_sum, Sr, sum of As species, sumOTC, TBT, TMA, TPhT and TPT from 77 sources.^{1World Health Organization · 2026GEMS/Food Contaminants database heavy-metal exportsGEMS/Food Contamination Monitoring and Assessment ProgrammeRead source →2Al Jufaili S, Al Khamisi S, Al Busaidi M, Al Habsi S · 2024Heavy metals in Garra shamal freshwater fish from Oman: accumulation and health riskEnvironmental Science and Pollution ResearchRead source →3Unknown authors · 2025Content of heavy metals in the muscle tissue of fish from two riversPeer-reviewed articleRead source →4Garofalo L, Sala M, Focardi C, Pasqualetti P, Delfino D, D’Onofrio F, Droghei B, Pasquali F, Nicolini V, Galli FS, Scaramozzino P, Ubaldi A, Russo K, Neri B · 2025Monitoring of Cadmium, Lead, and Mercury Levels in Seafood Products: A Ten-Year AnalysisFoods 14(3):451Read source →5Haseeb-ur-Rehman M, Munshi AB, Atique U, Kalsoom S · 2023Metal pollution and potential human health risk assessment in major seafood items (fish, crustaceans, and cephalopods)Marine Pollution BulletinRead source →6in fish of Buriganga river, Bangladesh Md. Kawser Ahmed, Mohammad Abdul Baki, Goutam Kumar Kundu, Md. Saiful Islam, Md. Monirul Islam, Md. Muzammel Hossain Correspondence: monirulislam@yahoo. · 2016Human health risks from heavy metalsPeer-reviewed articleRead source →} WHO GEMS/Food submissions reported lead in freshwater Fish, as sold from 3,748 results in 5 reporting regions, with subgroup medians from 3 to 100 µg/kg.^{1World Health Organization · 2026GEMS/Food Contaminants database heavy-metal exportsGEMS/Food Contamination Monitoring and Assessment ProgrammeRead source →} For cadmium, GEMS/Food gave subgroup medians from 7.5 to 22.8 µg/kg from 2,447 results.^{1World Health Organization · 2026GEMS/Food Contaminants database heavy-metal exportsGEMS/Food Contamination Monitoring and Assessment ProgrammeRead source →}

Across 5 other studies of ordinary farms and markets, reported lead means and medians on an as-sold or fresh-weight basis ranged from 5.5 µg/kg (Marín et al. 2018) to 400 µg/kg (Haseeb-ur-Rehman et al. 2023).^{5Haseeb-ur-Rehman M, Munshi AB, Atique U, Kalsoom S · 2023Metal pollution and potential human health risk assessment in major seafood items (fish, crustaceans, and cephalopods)Marine Pollution BulletinRead source →7Marín S, Pardo O, Sánchez A, Sanchis Y, Vélez D, Devesa V, Font G, Yusà V · 2018Assessment of metal levels in foodstuffs from the Region of Valencia (Spain)Toxicology Reports 5 (2018) 654-670Read source →} For cadmium, 5 studies on an as-sold or fresh-weight basis reported means and medians from 0.5 µg/kg (Vičarová et al. 2016) to 57 µg/kg (Haseeb-ur-Rehman et al. 2023).^{5Haseeb-ur-Rehman M, Munshi AB, Atique U, Kalsoom S · 2023Metal pollution and potential human health risk assessment in major seafood items (fish, crustaceans, and cephalopods)Marine Pollution BulletinRead source →8Vičarová P, Dočekalová H, Ridošková A, Pelcová P · 2016Heavy metals in the common carp (Cyprinus carpio L.) from three reservoirs in the Czech RepublicCzech Journal of Food SciencesRead source →} Higher results came from contaminated or exposed settings rather than ordinary supply. Freshwater Fish, as sold from lipid-soluble had dimethylarsinic acid higher at 200 µg/kg, against 20 µg/kg for lipid-soluble in the same study.^{9Kaise T, Hanaoka K, Tagawa S, Hirayama T, Fukui S · 1988Distribution of inorganic arsenic and methylated arsenic in marine organismsApplied Organometallic ChemistryRead source →}

For a buyer the practical points are the form bought, the basis a result is reported on, where the freshwater Fish came from and the laboratory’s reporting limit. Testing finds contamination but does not remove it.

What counts as freshwater Fish

This page covers freshwater Fish in 3 forms kept separate in every comparison: freshwater Fish, as sold (2,909 results), freshwater Fish, cooked (10 results) and freshwater Fish, powder or ground (10 results).^{1World Health Organization · 2026GEMS/Food Contaminants database heavy-metal exportsGEMS/Food Contamination Monitoring and Assessment ProgrammeRead source →2Al Jufaili S, Al Khamisi S, Al Busaidi M, Al Habsi S · 2024Heavy metals in Garra shamal freshwater fish from Oman: accumulation and health riskEnvironmental Science and Pollution ResearchRead source →3Unknown authors · 2025Content of heavy metals in the muscle tissue of fish from two riversPeer-reviewed articleRead source →4Garofalo L, Sala M, Focardi C, Pasqualetti P, Delfino D, D’Onofrio F, Droghei B, Pasquali F, Nicolini V, Galli FS, Scaramozzino P, Ubaldi A, Russo K, Neri B · 2025Monitoring of Cadmium, Lead, and Mercury Levels in Seafood Products: A Ten-Year AnalysisFoods 14(3):451Read source →5Haseeb-ur-Rehman M, Munshi AB, Atique U, Kalsoom S · 2023Metal pollution and potential human health risk assessment in major seafood items (fish, crustaceans, and cephalopods)Marine Pollution BulletinRead source →6in fish of Buriganga river, Bangladesh Md. Kawser Ahmed, Mohammad Abdul Baki, Goutam Kumar Kundu, Md. Saiful Islam, Md. Monirul Islam, Md. Muzammel Hossain Correspondence: monirulislam@yahoo. · 2016Human health risks from heavy metalsPeer-reviewed articleRead source →}

Results stay on the basis each source reports: as sold or fresh weight, dry weight, or unstated. Dry-weight, as-sold and unstated results are never pooled, and no moisture conversion is applied.

Heavy metal contamination profile of freshwater Fish

The table holds every extracted freshwater Fish result: one row for each statistic a source reports for a form, group and metal, 2,929 rows in all, grouped by metal and form; percentiles, ranges and maxima for the same samples as a mean or median are shown on that row.^{1World Health Organization · 2026GEMS/Food Contaminants database heavy-metal exportsGEMS/Food Contamination Monitoring and Assessment ProgrammeRead source →2Al Jufaili S, Al Khamisi S, Al Busaidi M, Al Habsi S · 2024Heavy metals in Garra shamal freshwater fish from Oman: accumulation and health riskEnvironmental Science and Pollution ResearchRead source →3Unknown authors · 2025Content of heavy metals in the muscle tissue of fish from two riversPeer-reviewed articleRead source →4Garofalo L, Sala M, Focardi C, Pasqualetti P, Delfino D, D’Onofrio F, Droghei B, Pasquali F, Nicolini V, Galli FS, Scaramozzino P, Ubaldi A, Russo K, Neri B · 2025Monitoring of Cadmium, Lead, and Mercury Levels in Seafood Products: A Ten-Year AnalysisFoods 14(3):451Read source →5Haseeb-ur-Rehman M, Munshi AB, Atique U, Kalsoom S · 2023Metal pollution and potential human health risk assessment in major seafood items (fish, crustaceans, and cephalopods)Marine Pollution BulletinRead source →6in fish of Buriganga river, Bangladesh Md. Kawser Ahmed, Mohammad Abdul Baki, Goutam Kumar Kundu, Md. Saiful Islam, Md. Monirul Islam, Md. Muzammel Hossain Correspondence: monirulislam@yahoo. · 2016Human health risks from heavy metalsPeer-reviewed articleRead source →} Monitoring medians are HMI calculations from individual submissions; non-detects remain intervals between zero and the reporting limit and are never read as zero.^{1World Health Organization · 2026GEMS/Food Contaminants database heavy-metal exportsGEMS/Food Contamination Monitoring and Assessment ProgrammeRead source →}

363 rows can be rated against an HMI reference for the same form and basis, 171 rows have a direct same-study comparison, and the rest stay unrated with the reason recorded. 102 values from 13 sources failed a check against their own source and are shown but not compared.^{6in fish of Buriganga river, Bangladesh Md. Kawser Ahmed, Mohammad Abdul Baki, Goutam Kumar Kundu, Md. Saiful Islam, Md. Monirul Islam, Md. Muzammel Hossain Correspondence: monirulislam@yahoo. · 2016Human health risks from heavy metalsPeer-reviewed articleRead source →10Rajeshkumar S, Liu Y, Zhang X, Ravikumar B, Bai G, Li X · 2018Studies on seasonal pollution of heavy metals in water, sediment, fish and oyster from the Meiliang Bay of Taihu Lake in ChinaChemosphereRead source →11Liang G, Gong W, Li B, Zuo J, Pan L, Liu X · 2019Analysis of Heavy Metals in Foodstuffs and an Assessment of the Health Risks to the General Public via Consumption in Beijing, ChinaInternational Journal of Environmental Research and Public HealthRead source →12Adilbekov Z, Mustafina R, Suleimenov S, Serikova A, Zhuzzassarova G, Suranshiyev Z, Bainiyazov A · 2026Technogenic contamination of livestock- and fish-derived food products with heavy metals and radionuclides in industrial and post-nuclear regions of KazakhstanVeterinary World 2026, 19(3): 1052-1068Read source →13Unknown authors · 2025Comparison of Proximate body composition and heavy metalsPeer-reviewed articleRead source →14Pradip Kumar Maurya, D. S. Malik, Krishna Kumar Yadav, Amit Kumar, Sandeep Kumar, Hesam Kamyab · 2019Bioaccumulation and potential sources of heavy metal contamination in fish species in River Ganga basin: Possible human health risks evaluationToxicology Reports 6:472–481Read source →15Najem ES, Hussein SA, Kane AM, Al-Ezzy AIA · 2024Bioaccumulation of lead, arsenic, and mercury in vital organs of common carp (Cyprinus carpio L.): Assessment of pathological effects and possible hazards associated with human consumptionOpen Veterinary JournalRead source →16Subhanullah M, Hassan N, Ali S, Saleh IA, Ilyas M, Rawan B, Ullah W, Iqbal B, Okla MK, Alaraidh IA, Fahad S · 2024The detrimental effects of heavy metals on tributaries exert pressure on water quality, Crossocheilus diplocheilus, and the well-being of human healthScientific ReportsRead source →17Maikanov BS, Auteleyeva LT, Ismagulova GT, Wisniewski J, Belkot Z, Anusz K · 2020Quality and safety of fish products in the Shuchinsk-Burabay Resort ZoneMedycyna Weterynaryjna 76(10):585-588Read source →18Unknown authors · 2022Health Risk Assessment Attributed to Consumption of FishPeer-reviewed articleRead source →19aquaculture products in Northeastern Brazil Luiz Drude de Lacerda · Moisés Fernandes Bezerra · 2026Mercury contamination and human exposurePeer-reviewed articleRead source →20Fuentes-Lopez Katerin, Olivero-Verbel Jesus, Caballero-Gallardo Karina · 2025Presence of Nematodes, Mercury Concentrations, and Liver Pathology in Carnivorous Freshwater Fish from La Mojana, Sucre, Colombia: Assessing Fish Health and Potential Human Health RisksArchives of Environmental Contamination and ToxicologyRead source →21EFSA Panel on Contaminants in the Food Chain (CONTAM) · 2012Scientific Opinion on the Risk for Public Health Related to the Presence of Mercury and Methylmercury in FoodEFSA Journal 2012;10(12):2985Read source →}