Accumulation of arsenic in different fresh water fish species – potential contribution to high arsenic intakes

The aim of the study was to evaluate total arsenic (As) in five tissues (gills, mouthpiece, intestine, liver and muscles) of 10 fish species caught from As contaminated Manchar Lake (26°3′N: 67°6′E) Sindh Pakistan during 2006–2007. The total As concentration was determined by hydride generation atomic absorption spectrometry (HG-AAS), prior to microwave assisted acid digestion. The certified reference material DORM-2 (dogfish muscle) was used to check the quality control of the technique. The good agreement with the certified value at 95% confidence limit confirmed the validity of As determination method. The limit of detection (LOD) and limit of quantitation (LOQ) of As were 0.034 and 0.11 μg/g, respectively.The As concentration ranges in different tissues were obtained as: gills (1.01–10.4), mouth pieces (1.01–18.6), intestine (1.01–11.2), liver (3.51–10.9) and in muscles (2.12–15.2) μg/g on dried basis. The bioaccumulation factor (BAF) for As in fish muscles were found in two ranges (4.88–7.2) and (17.6–35.3). The contribution of the daily intake of As, based on the consumption of 250 g fresh fish muscles per day was found in the range of 0.1–0.76 μg, higher than WHO tolerable limit.