Total and toxic arsenic levels in North Sea fish

Levels of arsenic contamination in muscle and liver tissue of 25 sea fish and 4 shellfish species from the North Sea were deter-mined. Analyses were done by both ICP-MS and HG-AFS to distinguish between nontoxic and toxic fractions of As. Highest total As concentrations were found in lemon sole, dogfish, ray, and witch. Average total As concentrations in these fish species were higher than 20 mg kg(-1) WW. The same species as well as the other flatfishes contained the highest amounts of toxic As (> 0.1 mg kg(-1) WW). Toxic fractions (AsTox/AsT%) above 2% were found in the following six species: seabass, ling, john dory, pouting, dab, and brill. No preferential concentration in the liver compared to the muscle was observed. In a worst-case scenario (when fish has been dried or smoked and the toxic As level is high; for example 0.5 mg ka(-1) WW), the As content of North Sea marine food may reach harmful levels. A normalization reflecting the toxic potential of sea fish was made. Shark and ray and most flatfish species have positive (high) normalized AsTox values. By ANOVA testing we compared the individual AsT concentrations of samples of the same species (intraspecies variability). Significant differences for some fish species were observed; significantly higher AsT concentrations were found in dogfish from the French coast versus the western North Sea and in common sole from the Bay of the Seine, in the north of France, versus the western North Sea.