Total Mercury Content—Fish Weight Relationship in Swordfish (Xiphias gladius) Caught in the Southwest Atlantic Ocean

✍ Scribed by Eduardo Mendez; Horacio Giudice; Alfredo Pereira; Gustavo Inocente; Dinorah Medina

• Book ID: 102593553
• Publisher: Elsevier Science
• Year: 2001
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 225 KB
• Volume: 14
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0889-1575
• DOI: 10.1006/jfca.2001.1005

✦ Synopsis

The total mercury content in the edible part of sword"sh (Xiphias gladius) was determined in 192 specimens ranging from 10 to 412 kg, in the period January 1997}December 1999. Total mercury values between 0.04 and 2.21 mg kg, with a mean value of 0.62$0.35 mg kg, were obtained. Data were analyzed in two subsets. One of them, for specimens under 100 kg, yielded a mean value for total mercury content of 0.53$0.02 mg kg, and the other, for specimens above 100 kg, had a mean value of 0.94$0.06 mg kg. The existence of these subsets of data is related with the rate of mercury incorporation into sword"sh #esh, in accordance with a potential model for total mercury bioaccumulation. Sword"sh weighing below 100 kg can be considered safe for human consumption, according to international regulations.