Arsenic (As) levels of Mediterranean mussels (Mytilus galloprovincialis) from Istanbul fish market [İstanbul balik halinden alinan akdeniz Midyelerinde (Mytilus galloprovincialis) arsenik düzeyleri]

Abstract

The aim of this study was to determine arsenic levels in Mediterranean mussel (Mytilus galloprovincialis) obtained from Istanbul fish market in 2004. Mussels were preferred in this study to identify heavy metal contamination, because they accepted worldwide as useful bioindicators of temporal trends in environmental quality and because of their immobility they accumulate some contaminants in their tissues at levels many time higher than in the surrrounding water and quickly to changes in contamination. Atomic absorption spectroscopy (AAS) was used to determine arsenic levels in mussels. In the analysed mussels, the highest level of As was found as 0.098 mg/kg (no: 9) and the lowest was identified as 0.019 mg/kg (no: 7). Evaluation of the study results showed that the As levels were within the normal ranges for our country's acceptable limits. The results showed that there was no serious hazard in the samples in terms of the arsenic analysed from Istanbul fish market.