Mercury levels of yellowfin tuna (Thunnus albacares) are associated with capture location

Abstract

Mercury is a toxic compound to which humans are exposed by consumption of fish. Current fish consumption advisories focus on minimizing the risk posed by the species that are most likely to have high levels of mercury. Less accounted for is the variation within species, and the potential role of the geographic origin of a fish in determining its mercury level. Here we surveyed the mercury levels in 117 yellowfin tuna caught from 12 different locations worldwide. Our results indicated significant variation in yellowfin tuna methylmercury load, with levels that ranged from 0.03 to 0.82 μg/g wet weight across individual fish. Mean mercury levels were only weakly associated with fish size (R < 0.1461) or lipid content (R < 0.00007) but varied significantly, by a factor of 8, between sites. The results indicate that the geographic origin of fish can govern mercury load, and argue for better traceability of fish to improve the accuracy of exposure risk predictions.

Mercury exposure and its effects on fertility and pregnancy outcome

“…In male and female flies treated with MeHg concentrations ranging from 28.25 to 56.5 μmoles/L, copulation normally occurs, whereas flies treated with higher MeHg concentrations, that is, from 113 to 339 μmoles/L, failed in sexual copulation and cannot go ahead in the reproduction . While the different government regulatory panels for the maximal Hg threshold in the environment and groundwaters established the range 0.050‐2 μg/L, that is, 0.00025‐0.01 μmoles/L, pollution might reach much higher values upwards in the food chain; for example, in yellowfin tuna ( Thunnus albacares ), MeHg load ranged from 0.03 to 0.82 μg/g wet weight across any individual fish, that is, 0.36‐9.84 mg Hg (0.6‐16.4 μmoles/L) for the whole animal . Eating a simple can of Hg‐polluted tuna, therefore, may represent intakes from 0.01 to 0.287 μmoles Hg, which accumulates in the body …”

“…25 While the different government regulatory panels for the maximal Hg threshold in the environment and groundwaters established the range 0.050-2 μg/L, that is, 0.00025-0.01 μmoles/L, pollution might reach much higher values upwards in the food chain; for example, in yellowfin tuna (Thunnus albacares), MeHg load ranged from 0.03 to 0.82 μg/g wet weight across any individual fish, that is, 0.36-9.84 mg Hg (0.6-16.4 μmoles/L) for the whole animal. 26 Eating a simple can of Hg-polluted tuna, therefore, may represent intakes from 0.01 to 0.287 μmoles Hg, which accumulates in the body. [27][28][29][30][31] The role of Hg as a toxicant in sexual reproduction and pregnancy is quite neglected compared with the great attention spent on reports regarding neurotoxicology from this heavy metal.…”

Study of an AuNPs functionalized electrode using different diazonium salts for the ultra-fast detection of Hg(II) traces in water

“…It is present in the ecosystem because of natural processes such as volcanism, but mostly because of anthropogenic discharges from gold mines or industries. It is then widespreaded in soils [1,2], atmosphere [3,4] and animals [5,6]. In his organometallic form (methylmercury MeHg) it bioaccumulates all along the food chain [7,8] and may thus be present in quite high quantities in the human food.…”

Stable isotope analyses revealed the influence of foraging habitat on mercury accumulation in tropical coastal marine fish

“…Thus, the protocol used in this study (i.e. using a dorsal muscle portion) has been extensively applied in recent risk assessment studies (Araújo and Cedeño-Macias, 2016;Bodin et al, 2017;Nicklisch et al, 2017). Second, the risk assessment of mercury intake due to fish consumption is based on 5 individuals for each species (Table 1) and may not be representative of the Hg…”