CONCENTRATIONS OF MERCURY IN FRESH AND SALTED MARINE FISH FROM THE CANARY-ISLANDS

A statistical study of recovery has been carried out in five mineraliz ation procedures: i) HNO3/H2SO4 (1:1), 45-degrees-C/15 h; ii) HNO3, 10 0-degrees-C (teflon pump)/l h.; iii) HNO3/H2SO4 (1:1), 100-degrees-C ( teflon pump)/l h; iv) H2SO4/HCl (1:1), 100-degrees-C (teflon pump)/l h ; and v) Lumaton, 45-degrees-C/24 h, for determination of mercury (col d vapor - A.A.S.) in muscle of fish. Only in method 1 there is no evid ence of the systematic error (P > 0.05). This method was applied to 44 9 samples of fresh and salted fish. Mean concentrations of mercury ran ged of 0.014 ppm (Pagellus erythrinus) to 0.970 ppm (Lepidopus caudatu s) for fresh fish, and for salted fish between 0.043 ppm (Diplodus sar gus cadenati) and 0.172 ppm (Galeorhinus galeus). One can conclude tha t the low mercury level of analyzed samples was lower than fish specie s from some polluted areas of the Mediterranean Sea. No significant di fferences were observed between the mean concentrations of fresh and s alted fish.