Elsevier

Environmental Pollution

Volume 252, Part B, September 2019, Pages 1026-1034
Environmental Pollution

Multielemental composition and consumption risk characterization of three commercial marine fish species

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envpol.2019.06.039Get rights and content

Highlights

  • Multielemental composition of commercial fish were assessed by Synchrotron TXRF.

  • Potentially toxic elements such as Ag Ba Cd Hg and Cr were detected in muscle.

  • Multielemental concentrations were species-specific and affected by trophic level.

  • The higher the fish species trophic level the higher the risk for human consumption.

  • Caution is recommended for the frequent ingestion of high trophic level fish species in Brazil.

Abstract

Marine fish are considered a source of high quality proteins and fatty acids. However, the consumption of fish may pose a health risk as it may have potentially toxic elements in high concentrations. In this study we quantify the multielemental composition of muscle and fins for three species of commercial marine fish from Brazil: Sphyraena guachancho (Barracuda), Priacantus arenatus (Common bigeye) and Genidens genidens (Guri sea catfish). We then assessed the potential risk of fish consumption by means of a Provisional Hazard Indices. Amongst the elements detected in fish tissue were potentially toxic elements such as Ag, Ba, Cd, Cr and Hg. Concentration differences were species-specific, and affected by the species trophic level, morphological characteristics and feeding habits. Results suggest the higher the trophic level of the fish, the higher the risk of consumption. Caution is recommended for the frequent ingestion of high trophic level fish species in Brazil.

Introduction

Fish are considered a high quality source of proteins, rich in essential amino acids, omega-3 type fats, vitamins and several elements such as calcium (Ca), zinc (Zn), iron (Fe) and selenium (Se) (FAO, 2006). However, the presence of potentially toxic inorganic elements in these food items can cause adverse health effects such as neurological and endocrine problems and an increased incidence of cancer (Núñez et al., 2017). Metals such as zinc (Zn) and chromium (Cr) are classified as essential because they play important functions in the metabolism of organisms (enzymatic cofactors, insulin and glucose metabolism, components of metalloenzymes) but may cause toxic effects if consumed above threshold concentrations (Copper, 2001). However, metals such as mercury (Hg), lead (Pb) and cadmium (Cd) are classified as non-essential and may produce toxic effects even when consumed in low concentrations, and their adverse effects are magnified by their ability to accumulate in animal tissue (Walker et al., 2012).

The extent of accumulation of elements in fish depends on various factors as the type of the element, fish species, tissue evaluated, water chemistry and mechanisms of detoxification (Korkmaz Görür et al., 2012; Petrović et al., 2013; Wang, 2002). There are various pathways for the assimilation of elements by fish, mainly through trophic transfer, ingestion of particulate matter, ion-exchange of dissolved elements across lipophilic membranes (e.g. the gills), and adsorption on tissue and membrane surfaces (Mendil and Uluözlü, 2007). After assimilation, the concentration and distribution of elements in fish tissues show great variability. For instance, in tissues with high metabolic rates and responsible for storage, excretion or detoxification activities, such as liver and kidneys, present high concentration of metals, especially those with potential toxic effects, often higher than fish muscle (Malik et al., 2014).

From a food safety perspective, muscle is the primary tissue used for human consumption, so evaluating the elemental concentration in fish muscle is necessary. Despite the extensive literature on the subject, the available data is often limited to one or few elements, mostly focused on metals with potential toxicity such as Cd, Pb, Hg, Cu, Zn and As (Alipour et al., 2015; Antonijevic et al., 2011; Bosch et al., 2016; Li et al., 2015; Özden and Erkan, 2016; e.g. Qiu et al., 2011). In Brazil, data on both fish multielemental concentration and seafood consumption are very limited. Three total diet studies have been conducted in Brazil (Ambrógi et al., 2016; Avegliano et al., 2011; Avegliano and Maihara, 2014), but were limited to a very small set of elements, and focused on the population of only one state (São Paulo). Also, most of the information regarding elemental concentration in marine fish in these studies come primarily from sardines, which do not represent the diversity of marine fish species consumed in coastal cities of Brazil. To understand the potential risk of marine fish consumption, we present an intake assessment analysis for multiple elements from three frequently consumed species of marine fish in Brazil. To do that, we quantified the concentration of multiple elements (Zn, Ag, Ba, Hg, Ti, Ni, Cu, Cr, Mn, Fe, P, K, S, Ca, Br and Cl) in the muscular tissue and fins of three species of fish widely consumed in the Southeastern Brazilian coast. Then, using regional specific fish consumption patterns, weight distribution in the Brazilian population and conservative estimates of hazard indices for the consumption of a set of elements, we calculated both the Provisional Hazard Index (PHI) and Provisional Total Hazard Index (PTHI).

A secondary objective of this study was to assess the use of fish fins as a potential tissue for monitoring multielemental composition in fish sold in fish markets. Monitoring the quality of bony fish consumed by humans using fish muscle poses some challenges. The greatest problem is the fact that fish muscle is expensive to sample as it is the part of the fish with the highest commercial value. Also, fishermen and fish sellers are reluctant to allow samples to be taken from fresh fish muscle, as the process often damages the appearance of the product, decreasing its market value. An alternative to monitoring fish quality is the use of tissues with low market value. In Brazilian fish markets, bony fish is often cleaned in front of the client, who takes home the gutted carcass or fish fillets. The fish guts are often kept by fisherman and sold to produce animal feed. The most common tissue discarded during the cleaning process are fish fins, making it an alternative tissue to fish muscle in monitoring elemental concentrations in fish. Fish fins are potential tissue because they are easy to collect and preserve, as they are often of relatively small size and weight for most bony fish and can be sundried or kept frozen, fish fins show species specific morphology which facilitates the morphological identification at the fish species they originated from. To assess the suitability of using fins as a substitute for muscle in monitoring multielemental concentrations in fish, we compared the concentrations of several elements in both tissues in fish of different trophic levels.

Section snippets

Sampling and sample preservation

Three common and abundant fish species from southeast Brazil were selected considering their ecological requirements, habitat uses and trophic level. Samples were obtained at Santos Public Fishing Terminal, port area in the city of Santos in Brazil, located in the southwest of the Atlantic coast (23°56′13″S, 46°19′30″W) during landings in 2013 since they are usually comercialized at local fish markets: Sphyraena guachancho (Barracuda), Priacantus arenatus (Common bigeye) and Genidens genidens

Results and Discussion

The SL-TXRF procedure was capable of quantifying 18 elements in all samples (see Supplementary material). All 18 elements were detected in Genidens genidens fins, while Br, Cd, Cl and Pb were not detected in any tissue from both Sphyraena guachancho and Priacanthus arenatus. Most elements showed significant differences in concentration in fin and muscle tissues in all three fish species (Fig. 1, Fig. 2, Fig. 3). Higher concentrations of most metal elements were often observed in fins than in

Acknowledgments

This work was supported by a grant from the São Paulo Research Foundation (FAPESP grant 2014/50711-3) to FG, a CNPq scholarship (130441/2016-3) to MC, and by the Brazilian Synchrotron Light Laboratory (LNLS) under the proposal 20170153XRF. We also thank Dr. Carlos Alberto Perez from the LNLS for valuable assistance and feedback during the XRF Beamline experiments.

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