Comparison of Total Mercury Accommodations between Two Edible Fish Tissues (Tuna and Fitofag)

In this study, total mercury in canned tuna in comparison with Hypophthalmichthys molitrix (fitofag or phytophag) fish samples were determined by flow injection cold vapour generation atomic absorption spectrometry after digestion by the two different methods. The mercury concentration varied from 83 to 290 ng g^(-1) with an average value of 147 ng g^(-1) in canned tuna, while the concentration varied from 14 to 56 ng g^(-1) with an average value of 26 ng g^(-1) for fitofag fish. Recoveries of the total mercury were in the range of 81-107% and 120-160% by method I and 2, respectively. The results of this study indicate that tuna and fitofag fish from the Persian Gulf area of Iran have concentrations well below the permissible FAO/WHO levels for total mercury and also the feed regime of fishes can affect the mercury accommodation. Therefore, their contribution to the body burden can be considering negligible and the fish seem to be safe for human consumption.