Determination of metal contaminations in sea foods from Marmara, Aegean and Mediterranean seas: Twelve fish species

The concentrations of cadmium, cobalt, chromium, copper, iron, manganese, nickel, lead and zinc were determined by ICP-AES in muscles and livers of 12 fish species sampled from the Marmara, Aegean and Mediterranean seas of Turkey. Iron showed the highest levels in examined tissues of all fish species. Following Fe, Zn generally showed the second highest levels. Metal concentrations in edible parts of fish species were 0.02–0.37 mg kg−1 for cadmium, 0.04–0.41 mg kg−1 for cobalt, 0.04–1.75 mg kg−1 for chromium, 0.32–6.48  mg kg−1 for copper, 7.46–40.1 mg kg−1 for iron, 0.10–0.99  mg kg−1 for manganese, 0.02–3.97 mg kg−1 for nickel, 0.33–0.86 mg kg−1 for lead, 4.49–11.2 mg kg−1 for zinc, respectively. All metal concentrations in livers were higher than those in muscles. In some stations, cadmium and chromium concentrations in both muscles and livers, and lead levels in livers of the examined species were higher than permissible safety levels for human uses.