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LEVELS OF MERCURY IN THREE SPECIES OF TUNA (KATSUWONUS PELAMIS,

AUXIS THAZARD AND EUTHYNNUS AFFINIS) COLLECTED FROM THE
JORDANIAN COAST OF THE GULF OF AQABA, RED SEA

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© by PSP Volume 28 – No. 5/2019 pages 4304-4310
LEVELS OF MERCURY IN THREE SPECIES OF TUNA
(KATSUWONUS PELAMIS, AUXIS THAZARD AND
EUTHYNNUS AFFINIS) COLLECTED FROM THE
JORDANIAN COAST OF THE GULF OF AQABA, RED SEA
Tariq Al-Najjar1,*, Nashat Dahiyat3, Nida Sharari2, Mohammad Wahsha2, Maroof Khalaf1
1
Department of Marine Biology, The University of Jordan, Aqaba Branch, 77110, P.O. Box 263, Jordan
2
Marine Science Station, The University of Jordan and Yarmouk University, 77110, P. O. Box 195 Aqaba, Jordan
3
BenHayyan Aqaba International Laboratories, Aqaba Special Economic Zone Authority (ASEZA), 77110, P.O. Box 2565, Aqaba, Jordan
ABSTRACT
Level of mercury (Hg) heavy metal concentra-
tions were investigated using Direct Mercury Ana-
lyzer (DMA) in muscles, liver, gills, gonads and kid-
ney of three fish species (Katsuwonus pelamis, Auxis
thazard and Euthynnus affinis) that were collected
from the Jordanian coast of the Gulf of Aqaba, Red
Sea during May to December 2015. Heavy metals
accumulation varied significantly between organs,
generally, the highest Hg concentrations were found
in muscles of K.pelamis, A.thazard and E.affinis
with an average 0.500, 0.354 and 0.244 µg/g respec-
tively and the lowest concentrations were found in
gills of K.pelamis with an average 0.113 µg/g and
gonads of A.thazard and E.affinis with an average
0.140 µg/g and 0.110 µg/g respectively. The accu-
mulation of heavy metals concentrations in the mus-
cles than other organs is an indicator for clean, pol-
lution-free environment. Strong positive correlations
have been found between fish length and Hg concen-
trations. Levels of Hg in tuna fish muscles were
within the acceptable limits for human consumption.
KEYWORDS:
Heavy metals, Fishes, Mercury, Aqaba, Red Sea
INTRODUCTION
Fish is widely consumed around the world by
many people because it is a good source of protein,
Omega-3 and unsaturated fatty acids [1, 2]. Fishes
are rich in essential vitamins such as A, B3, B6, B12,
and D, and the minerals such as calcium, iron, sele-
nium, and zinc [1, 3, 4].
Fishes are the most significant source of mer-
cury in human diets, and mercury levels in humans
have been closely related to fish consumption [5].
Fish are often at the top of the aquatic food chain and
may concentrate large amounts of some metals from
water and food, therefore, metals bioaccumulate and
biomagnified in different fish organs [6, 7, 8, 9].
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Fresenius Environmental Bulletin
Contamination of aquatic systems by heavy
metals has become a global issue. Heavy metals may
enter aquatic systems from different natural and an-
thropogenic (human activities) sources, including in-
dustrial or domestic wastewater, application of pes-
ticides and inorganic fertilizers, storm runoff, leach-
ing from landfills, shipping and harbor activities, ge-
ological weathering of the earth crust and atmos-
pheric deposition [10, 11]. Many studies discover a
vulnerability of the Gulf of Aqaba to metals pollu-
tion; these studies mention that the Gulf of Aqaba
has a great probability to get polluted with heavy
metals carried by air currents [12].
Several studies have been reported on the
heavy metals in marine fish species collected from
the Gulf of Aqaba [9, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19].
However, the levels of Hg in the fishes of the family
Scombridae were not investigated previously. This
study aims to provide knowledge and establish base-
line data for the level of mercury in three common
species belonging to the family Scombridae;
Katsuwonus pelamis, Auxis thazard and Euthynnus
affinis that are extensively consuming by locals.
MATERIALS AND METHODS
Study area. The study area lies within the Jor-
danian portion of the Gulf of Aqaba (Figure 1). It is
a partially enclosed water body that constitutes the
eastern segment of V-shaped situated at the northern
tip of the Gulf and extends south for about 27 km to
the Saudi Arabia border. It is located in a sub-tropi-
cal arid area between longitude 34° 25' to 35° 00' E
and latitude 28°00' to 29°33' N. The Gulf of Aqaba
is 180 km long and has a maximum width of 25 km,
which decreases at the northern tip to about 5 km.
The Gulf biodiversity is unique and some species are
endemic to the area due to its semi-enclosed nature.
It is connected to the Red Sea through the Straits of
Tiran. It is more than 1,800 m deep (averaging 650
meters) [20, 21, 22].
© by PSP Volume 28 – No. 5/2019 pages 4304-4310
Fish sampling and preparation. The total of
36 samples, twelve fish samples from each of the fol-
lowing species: Katsuwonus pelamis, Auxis thazard
and Euthynnus affinis were collected from local fish-
ermen during May to December 2015. Collected
samples were immediately transported to the labora-
tory in ice boxes and allowed thawing and rinsed
with distilled water. Muscle, liver, kidney, gonads
and gills were taken out then five gram of each tissue
were kept in deep freezer.
Samples Analysis. Samples were analyzed for
Hg according to [23] method 7473 (SW-846). using
Direct Mercury Analyzer (DMI) (Milestone - DMA-
80, Italy).
Sample of 0.1 g dry weight from each organ
were homogenized and weighted in sample boat
(nickel boats was cleaned using a Muffle furnace at
600°C for 20 minutes). Duplicates, spiked samples,
and check standards were analyzed with each patch
of samples.
Samples from previous step were analyzed by
located the sample boat in auto sampler tray of Di-
rect Mercury Analyzer (DMI) instrument. Con-
trolled heating in an oxygenated decomposition fur-
nace was used to liberate mercury from samples in
the instrument. Each sample was dried and then ther-
mally and chemically decomposed within the de-
composition furnace. The decomposition com-
pounds were carried by flowing oxygen. Oxidation
FIGURE 1
Study area in the northern Gulf of Aqaba
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Fresenius Environmental Bulletin
was completed and halogens and nitrogen/sulfur ox-
ides were trapped. The remaining decomposition
compounds were then carried to an amalgamator that
selectively traps mercury. The amalgamator was rap-
idly heated, releasing mercury vapor. Flowing oxy-
gen carried the mercury vapor through absorbance
cells positioned in the light path of a single wave-
length atomic absorption spectrophotometer. Ab-
sorbance (peak height or peak area) was measured at
253.7 nm as a function of mercury concentration.
Statistical Analysis. A non-parametric test
(Kruskal Wallis test) was performed to examine sig-
nificant differences for Hg among species and or-
gans.
RESULTS
Heavy metals concentration among
Scombridae fish species. The mean values of Mer-
cury concentrations in muscles of different fish spe-
cies (K.pelamis, A.thazard and E.affinis) showed
significant differences (p = 0.0002). The highest Hg
concentration was found in K.pelamis with mean
value of (0.318 µg/g), followed by A.thazard (0.240
µg/g) and E.affinis (0.169 µg/g), (table 1) showed the
mean + SE of Hg concentration in muscles of three
fish species.
© by PSP Volume 28 – No. 5/2019 pages 4304-4310 Fresenius Environmental Bulletin

TABLE 1
Mean ± SE of Hg concentrations in the muscles for K.pelamis, A.thazard and E.affinis collected from the
Jordanian coast of the Gulf of Aqaba, Red Sea
Fish species Mean (µg/g) ± SE
K.pelamis 0.318 ± 0.026
A.thazard 0. 240 ± 0.015
E.affinis 0.169 ± 0.009

0,6
Concentration (µg/g )

0,5
0,4
0,3
0,2
0,1
0
Gill Muscles
Gonads Liver
Kidney
Organ
FIGURE 2
Mean concentration µg/g ± SE of Hg in different organs of K pelamis

0,4
0,35
Concentration (µg/g )

0,3
0,25
0,2
0,15
0,1
0,05
0
Muscles Liver Gill Gonads Kidney
Organ
FIGURE 3
Mean concentration µg/g ± SE of Hg in different organs of A. thazard

0,3
Concentration (µg/g )

0,25
0,2
0,15
0,1
0,05
0
Muscles Liver Gill Gonads Kidney
Organ
FIGURE 4
Mean concentration µg/g ± SE of Hg in different organs of E. affinis

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TABLE 2
The correlation coefficient (R2) and Probability test (P-value) between fish length of K. pelamis, A. thazard
and E. affinis and final metal concentrations
K. pelamis
R2 0.058
P-value 0.4506
Mercury concentration among different fish
organs of fish species. Results of Hg concentrations
(µg/g) between different organs of K. pelamis were
significantly different (P < 0.0001). Muscles and
kidney showed the highest mean concentration with
mean value of 0.500 µg/g each, among all organs,
while the gills had the lowest mean value with 0.113
µg/g (dw) as shown in Figure 2.
Results of Hg concentrations (µg/g) between
different organs of A. thazard was significantly dif-
ferent (P < 0.0001). Muscles had the highest mean
concentration among all organs with 0.354 µg/g
(dw), followed by liver with 0.293 µg/g (dw), while
the gonads had the lowest concentration with 0.140
µg/g (dw) as shown in Figure 3.
Results of Hg concentrations (µg/g) between
different organs of E. affinis was significantly differ-
ent (P < 0.0001), muscles had the highest mean con-
centration among all organs with 0.244 µg/g (dw),
followed by kidney with 0.215 µg/g (dw), while the
gonads had the lowest concentration value with
0.110 µg/g (dw) as shown in Figure 4.
Effect of fish length on Hg concentrations.
The results showed that there was a strong positive
correlation between Hg and the body length of A.
thazard and E. affinis with R2 = 0.8711 and 0.8551
respectively, whereas, weak correlation for
K.pelamis. The correlation coefficient (R2) and P-
value between fish length and Hg concentrations.
DISCUSSION
The results of this study showed that there were
significant differences between the three fish species
K. pelamis, A. thazard and E. affinis for Hg concen-
tration, this difference could be related to differences
in each species physiology, feeding rate, growth rate,
life pan, migratory patterns, foraging habits and/or
diet [24]. Similar pattern was reported on toxic met-
als in Italian fresh and canned tuna [25, 26].
The results of this study revealed that Hg con-
centrations in muscles of K pelamis, A thazard and
E affinis fishes were higher than other organs such
as liver, gills, gonads and kidney. Similar results
were found on comparison and bio-monitoring of Hg
heavy metal concentrations in fishes from uncon-
taminated and contaminated localities [27], they
found that Hg concentration in muscles was higher
than internal organs in uncontaminated localities, the
Hg concentrations were found in the following
Fresenius Environmental Bulletin
A. thazard E. affinis
0.8711 0.8551
< 0.0001 < 0.0001
pattern: muscle > kidney > liver > gonads, this
could be because methyl-mercury in adult fishes is
more than 90% of total mercury which is primarily
found in the fish muscles tissue bound to protein
molecules [4, 28, 29], in addition to the distribution
of heavy metals in fish organs depends on the degree
of contamination of the environment. In Hg-polluted
locations, Hg concentrations in internal organs are
usually significantly higher than Hg concentrations
in muscles, whereas Hg concentration in muscles of
fishes captured from uncontaminated localities is
usually higher than that found in their internal organs
[27], and this finding show clearly proofed that Aq-
aba marine water is clean and uncontaminated.
Results of this study showed clearly that mus-
cles accumulate more Hg than other organs, this may
be due to the long migrations made by these species
and to their feeding habits as they are the top preda-
tors and occupy the highest level in the food chain.
[30] showed that the predatory fish belonging to the
higher trophic levels accumulate more Hg than the
benthic and planktonophagous species because it is
known that the accumulation of Hg is dependent on
the length of the food chain. The highest values of
Hg in muscles of piscivorous species, and the lowest
concentration in muscle tissue of fish feeding inver-
tebrate were observed by [31]. [32] studied Hg con-
centration in the muscles of pelagic fish species from
the Bay of Bengal, and found that Hg concentration
for these tuna species are in the following order K.
pelamis > A. thazard > E. affinis. Similar pattern for
Hg concentration was found in the present study.
During the present study, muscles of K. pelamis con-
tained Hg above the maximum allowable concentra-
tion set by Jordanian standards [33], Australian and
New Zealand standards [34] and below the maxi-
mum allowable concentration in Canada [35], Fin-
land [34] standards (Table 3). None of the muscles
samples of A. thazard and E. affinis fishes contained
Hg above the maximum allowable concentration of
the above mentioned standards. Similar and even
higher concentrations of Hg were estimated by [36,
37, 38, 39] who found that the concentration of Hg
in muscles of tuna is higher than other organs.
The results of this study showed a strong posi-
tive correlation between Hg and the fish length of A.
thazard and E. affinis, whereas there was a weak
positive correlation between Hg and length of K.
pelamis. This is in accordance with the studies of
[42, 43] in which they found a correlation between
Hg heavy metal concentration and fish length. This
could be attributed to the specific bio-affinity for
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© by PSP Volume 28 – No. 5/2019 pages 4304-4310 Fresenius Environmental Bulletin

organic matter of CH3Hg with a high biological half- [2] Krauss, R.M., Eckel, R.H., Howard, B., Appel,
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