Comparative study of elemental content in farmed and wild life Sea Bass and Gilthead Bream from four different sites by FAAS and EDXRF

The purpose of this work is to compare the elemental content of samples of wild and farmed fish from four different Portuguese locations.Samples of Gilthead Bream and Sea Bass were gathered at fish farms and docks of four of the most important Portuguese harbours. These species were chosen because they are very important from both the economic and consumers points of view.In order to obtain the elemental content of the essential and toxic elements present in the samples, two elemental techniques were used EDXRF and FAAS. No significant differences were found in what concerns the essential elements. Regarding toxic elements, higher concentrations of Cd, Hg and Pb were systematically found between the samples of a given fish farming industry and the fish caught in the sea in the same region. Despite these differences, no values above the recommended regulations were found.