Hg and Se composition in demersal deep-sea fish from the North-East Atlantic
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RESEARCH ARTICLE
Hg and Se composition in demersal deep-sea fish from the North-East Atlantic Guilherme Teixeira 1 & Joana Raimundo 2,3 & Joana Goulart 4,5 & Valentina Costa 4,5 & Gui M. Menezes 5 & Miguel Caetano 2 & Mário Pacheco 1 & Inês Martins 4,5 Received: 7 January 2020 / Accepted: 21 April 2020 # Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature 2020
Abstract It has been emphasized that seafood consumers may have a higher risk of mercury (Hg) exposure. Nevertheless, the cooccurrence of selenium (Se) in organisms may affect the toxicity and bioavailability of Hg. In this work, we aim to demonstrate the possible role of Se as a potential protective element against Hg in muscle and liver tissues of three demersal deep-sea fish species: common mora Mora moro, birdbeak dogfish Deania calcea, and smooth lanternshark Etmopterus pusillus. Comparing species, the birdbeak dogfish D. calcea showed the highest Hg concentrations, the lowest Se levels, the lowest mean Se:Hg molar ratio, a negative HBV-Se index, and no correlation between total length. On the other hand, smooth lanternshark E. pusillus showed the lowest Hg concentrations, the highest Se concentrations, the highest mean Se:Hg molar ratio, a positive HBV-Se index, and a significant positive correlation between total length and Se concentrations in muscle. Comparing tissues, the common mora Mora moro seems to accumulate more Hg and Se in liver than shark species D. calcea and E. pusillus that showed to accumulate Hg and Se preferentially in muscle. Our results indicate that these three species for having Hg concentrations near and above the EU regulatory thresholds and for presenting low Se:Hg ratios, and negative (or low positive) HBV-Se index may pose a real risk of Hg toxicity for the consumer. Keywords Demersal fish . Selenium . Mercury . Molar ratio . Azores . Consumption risks
Introduction Mercury (Hg) in the environment can come from natural sources, but anthropogenic emissions have increased environmental concentrations comprising approximately 70% of total Responsible editor: Vedula VSS Sarma * Inês Martins [email protected] 1
Department of Biology and CESAM, University of Aveiro, 3810-193 Aveiro, Portugal
2
IPMA- Portuguese Institute for Sea and Atmosphere, Av. Brasília, 1449-006 Lisbon, Portugal
3
Interdisciplinary Centre of Marine and Environmental Research (CIIMAR/CIMAR), University of Porto (U.Porto), Matosinhos, Portugal
4
IMAR- Department of Oceanography and Fisheries, University of Azores, 9901-862 Horta, Portugal
5
OKEANOS- Research Unit- Faculty of Science and Technology, University of the Azores, 9901-862 Horta, Portugal
global emissions to rivers and oceans (Sackett et al. 2010). Mercury is one of the most toxic metals in the ocean not only because of its biogeochemical cycling (Mason et al. 2012) but also by its ability for biomagnification through the food chain. Fish predators accumulate higher tissue concentrations than preys (Maz-Courrau et al. 2012), being found at highest concentrations in longer-living and l
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