Health Risk Assessment of Metals (Cu, Pb, Zn, Cr, Cd, As, Hg, Se) in Angling Fish with Different Lengths Collected from Liuzhou, China

Jun Li, Xiongyi Miao, Yupei Hao, Zhouqing Xie, Shengzheng Zou and Changsong Zhou
Additional contact information
Jun Li: Key Laboratory of Karst Dynamics, MNR&GZAR, Institute of Karst Geology, CAGS, Guilin 541004, China
Xiongyi Miao: Key Laboratory of Karst Dynamics, MNR&GZAR, Institute of Karst Geology, CAGS, Guilin 541004, China
Yupei Hao: Key Laboratory of Karst Dynamics, MNR&GZAR, Institute of Karst Geology, CAGS, Guilin 541004, China
Zhouqing Xie: Institute of Polar Environment, School of Earth and Space Sciences, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei 230026, China
Shengzheng Zou: Key Laboratory of Karst Dynamics, MNR&GZAR, Institute of Karst Geology, CAGS, Guilin 541004, China
Changsong Zhou: Key Laboratory of Karst Dynamics, MNR&GZAR, Institute of Karst Geology, CAGS, Guilin 541004, China

IJERPH, 2020, vol. 17, issue 7, 1-16

Abstract: Wild fish caught by anglers (WFAs) were confirmed to be usually contaminated with metals, and the contamination status is radically affected by the growth and length of the fish. To determine the contamination levels of metals and health risks in WFAs with different length ranges of fish, this study ascertained the concentration of eight metals, including Cu, Pb, Zn, Cr, Cd, As, Hg and Se, in 171 wild fishes collected from the watershed of Liujiang River. The assessment of metal pollution and health risks from the consumption of these fishes with seven length ranges were accomplished. The obtained results implied a relatively high concentration of Zn, Cr, and Cd up to 109.294 mg/kg, 4.226 mg/kg, and 0.196 mg/kg (wet weight), respectively, which exceed the corresponding Maximum Residue Limit (MRL). The negative correlation between Cu, Zn, Cr, and Cd was observed to be significant with fish length, signifying a possible occurrence of biological dilution on these metals. The WFAs were mostly contaminated with Cr and Cd irrespective of the length ranges of fish, which were denoted by the average pollution index (Pi) of Cr and Cd and were commonly found to be beyond 0.2. Based on the results of health risk assessment analysis, most of the target hazard quotient (THQ) values of Cr were below 1, implying that the consumption of wild fish for adults has insignificant health risk. For children, the total target hazard quotient (TTHQ) values of beyond 1 were found in fishes with the length range of <25 cm, particularly a TTHQ value 1.627 in the range of 10–15 cm, indicating that children are being prone to serious health risks owing to the consumption of WFAs. The weekly recommended consumption of WFAs with the length range of 10–15 cm for adults and children was 0.298 kg/week and 0.149 kg/week, respectively. These are substantially lower than the current rate of fish consumption (0.42 kg/week), and therefore, the wild fish with the length range of 10–15 cm should be avoided for consumption.

Keywords: fish caught by anglers; metals; different lengths; health risk assessments; Liuzhou (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/17/7/2192/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/17/7/2192/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:17:y:2020:i:7:p:2192-:d:336944

Access Statistics for this article

IJERPH is currently edited by Ms. Jenna Liu

More articles in IJERPH from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().