title: Organic and inorganic arsenic and lead in fish from the South Adriatic Sea, Italy.
abstract: Total, organic and inorganic arsenic and lead were measured from the muscle of different kinds of fish: skate (Raje spp.), hake (Merluccius merluccius) and blue whiting (Micromesistius poutassou), caught in the South Adriatic Sea (South Italy) in the period June-August 1995. The highest levels of total arsenic were found in skate (Raje spp.) whose values ranged from 14.4 to 61.5 mg/kg ww, followed by blue whiting (M. poutassou) and hake (M. merluccius) that showed lower levels ranging from 8.5 to 21.5 mg/kg ww and from 5.9 to 16.1 mg/kg ww, respectively. In all the species examined most of this element was present as organic compounds while inorganic arsenic was only a very modest percentage (0.47-3.5%) of the total arsenic present. Lead in all species analysed was at small concentrations with mean values ranging from 0.12 to 0.15 mg/kg ww. According to the rules in force in Italy no samples showed concentrations of lead exceeding the peak value of 2 mg/kg.
authors.affiliation: Istituto di Chimica, Facoltà di Medicina Veterinaria, Università di Bari, Valenzano, BA, Italy.
authors.forename: M M
authors.initials: MM
authors.lastname: Storelli
authors.forename: G O
authors.initials: GO
authors.lastname: Marcotrigiano
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001151:Arsenic / Q000032:analysis*; D001152:Arsenicals / Q000032:analysis*; D005399:Fishes; D005506:Food Contamination / Q000032:analysis*; D007558:Italy; D007854:Lead / Q000032:analysis*; D009132:Muscles / Q000737:chemistry; D017747:Seafood / Q000032:analysis*; D013045:Species Specificity; D013054:Spectrophotometry, Atomic / Q000592:standards; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical / Q000032:analysis
chemical_list: D001152:Arsenicals; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical; D007854:Lead; D001151:Arsenic