Heavy Metal Levels in Commercial Fishes Caught in the southern Black Sea coast

Abstract

Sinop considered the mid-point of the Black Sea in Turkey and is located on Boztepe peninsula which is the most extended point of Turkish Black Sea coastline towards north. The fact that three sides of the peninsula are surrounded by sea has made fisheries a significant means of income. Fishery has an important place in the economy of Sinop. The purpose of the current study is to evaluate the levels of eight heavy metals (aluminium, arsenic, copper, zinc, mercury, lead, cadmium and iron) in the edible tissues of Scophthalmus maximus, Spicara maena, Chelidonichthys lucerna, Alosa fallax and Scorpaena porcus caught in Sinop coasts of the Black Sea. The samples were obtained during the fishing season in 2013 directly from the Turkish fishing vessels. Hg, Cd and Pb were not detected in the edible part of all fish samples.  The metal levels in edible tissues were no exceeded the standard guideline values Estimated hazard index (HI) suggest that these metals in the edible tissues of the fish do not toxic for consumers, where the HIs of all the considered metals were below the value of 1.