Evaluation of water quality and bioaccumulation of metals in commercially important fishes: a human health concern

Overview

Job and colleagues measured arsenic, cadmium, chromium, copper, lead, and zinc in edible muscle from five commercially important fish species associated with the Thondi coast, Palk Bay, India. The fish were randomly collected from the market, and muscle tissue was analyzed by atomic absorption spectroscopy. The source reports arsenic and chromium without speciation; arsenic is therefore total/unspecified arsenic (As), and chromium is total chromium (Cr), not hexavalent chromium (Cr-VI).

Key numbers

Table 1 reports trace-element concentrations in fish muscle in μg/g:

The results section states the following maxima and minima among the five species: total arsenic (tAs) highest in Sillago sihama and lowest in Lates calcarifer; Cr highest in Lates calcarifer and lowest in Sillago sihama; lead (Pb) highest in Sillago sihama and lowest in Lates calcarifer; cadmium (Cd) highest in Scolopsis bimaculatus and lowest in Lutjanus fulviflamma; Zn highest in Scolopsis bimaculatus and lowest in Lates calcarifer.

Table 3 reports estimated daily intake (EDI) and target hazard quotient (THQ):

The abstract states that tAs, Cu, and Pb were highest in Sillago sihama at 1.2364 +/- 0.12, 1.6102 +/- 0.28, and 1.0103 +/- 0.21 μg/g, respectively; Cd and Zn were highest in Scolopsis bimaculatus at 0.0876 +/- 0.04 and 1.0564 +/- 0.16 μg/g; and Cr was highest in Lates calcarifer at 1.6781 +/- 0.18 μg/g.

Methods (brief)

Water samples were collected from January to April 2022 at the Thondi coast, Palk Bay. Fish species Lates calcarifer, Leiognathus equulus, Lutjanus fulviflamma, Scolopsis bimaculatus, and Sillago sihama were randomly collected from the market and transferred to the laboratory on ice. Muscle tissues were separated, dried at 70 °C, ground, digested with concentrated nitric acid and perchloric acid at a 2:1 ratio, and analyzed for As, Cd, Cr, Cu, Pb, and Zn using Shimadzu 7000 atomic absorption spectroscopy. DORM-4 fish tissue certified reference material was used for validation. The paper reports As and Cr as elements without speciation.

Implications

This source contributes direct edible-fish muscle occurrence data for fresh marine fish from the Thondi coast/Palk Bay market area. It should be routed as mixed marine fish evidence rather than collapsed into a single species row, and the arsenic and chromium values should remain total/unspecified species. The EDI and THQ table is useful exposure context, but the concentration table is the primary occurrence evidence for product routing.

Update history

The five most recent substantive edits to this page, classified major (evidence or structure moved), correction (a published value or statement was wrong and has been fixed), or minor (narrative rewritten without changing the underlying evidence). Each description is derived from what the edit did to this page; the linked commit is the authoritative record, routine regeneration passes are excluded, and the full version history lives in git.