title: Total and organic mercury concentrations in the muscles of Pacific albacore (Thunnus alalunga) and bigeye tuna (Thunnus obesus).
abstract: Muscles of 115 North Pacific albacore (ALB, Thunnus alalunga) and 75 Pacific bigeye tuna (BET, Thunnus obesus), collected from 2001 to 2006, were analyzed. No ALB, but 13 large BET had organic mercury (OH g) concentrations exceeding 1 μg g(-1) wet weight. For both ALB and BET, total mercury (THg) and OH g concentrations were significantly and positively correlated with fork length (FL) and body weight. The muscle Hg bioaccumulation rates of BET were higher than those of ALB, particularly in the adult fish. Moreover, the lines had crossover points among the two species that imply the young BET (FL<110 cm) contains lower muscle Hg concentrations than ALB of the same size. The suggested weekly dietary intake of ALB and small-BET meats is 340 g, and of BET meat it is 150 g for a 60-kg person based on the provisional tolerable weekly intake (PTWI) of methylmercury set by the WHO.
authors.affiliation: Department of Environmental Engineering, National Kaohsiung Marine University, Kaohsiung 81143, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Chiee-Young
authors.initials: CY
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: Department of Marine Biotechnology and Resources, National Sun Yat-sen University, Kaohsiung 80424, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Chien-Cheng
authors.initials: CC
authors.lastname: Lai
authors.affiliation: Department of Oceanography and Asia-Pacific Ocean Research Center, National Sun Yat-sen University, Kaohsiung 80424, Taiwan; Institute of Oceanography, College of Science, National Taiwan University, Taipei 10617, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Kuo-Shu
authors.initials: KS
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: Institute of Oceanography, College of Science, National Taiwan University, Taipei 10617, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Chien-Chung
authors.initials: CC
authors.lastname: Hsu
authors.affiliation: Department of Oceanography and Asia-Pacific Ocean Research Center, National Sun Yat-sen University, Kaohsiung 80424, Taiwan; Taiwan Ocean Research Institute, National Applied Research Laboratories, Kaohsiung 85243, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Chin-Chang
authors.initials: CC
authors.lastname: Hung
authors.affiliation: Department of Oceanography and Asia-Pacific Ocean Research Center, National Sun Yat-sen University, Kaohsiung 80424, Taiwan. Electronic address: mhchen@mail.nsysu.edu.tw.
authors.forename: Meng-Hsien
authors.initials: MH
authors.lastname: Chen
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001835:Body Weight; D004784:Environmental Monitoring / Q000379:methods*; D005506:Food Contamination / Q000032:analysis; D008628:Mercury / Q000032:analysis* / Q000378:metabolism; D018482:Muscle, Skeletal / Q000737:chemistry*; D009941:Organomercury Compounds / Q000032:analysis* / Q000378:metabolism; D017747:Seafood / Q000032:analysis; D014413:Tuna / Q000254:growth & development / Q000378:metabolism; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical / Q000032:analysis* / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D009941:Organomercury Compounds; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical; D008628:Mercury
keywords: Growth dilution; Heavy metal; Hg pollution; Methylmercury; Predatory fish; Seafood safety