Abstract
In this study, total mercury concentrations were determined in sediments and seven different fish species from the Upper Volta Basin area of Yeji in Ghana. Mercury concentrations found ranged from 44.17 to 85.88 ng/g wet weight for Synodontis gambiesis, from 11.25 to 79.73 ng/g wet weight for Synodontis membranaceus, from 13.11 to 38.64 ng/g wet weight for Synodontis ocellifer, from 16.39 to 25.82 ng/g wet weight for Distishodus rotratus, from 40.80 to 90.30 ng/g wet weight for Bagrus docmac, from 10.48 to 61.90 ng/g wet weight for Chrysichthys nigrodigitatus and from 12.33 to 24.18 ng/g wet weight for Gnathoneus senegalensis. These values are below the 500 ng/g guideline recommended by the WHO/FAO, implying that fish from the Upper Volta Basin area of Yeji are safe for human consumption. Good correlation was observed between mercury concentration and fresh weight (R2 = 0.6067) and total length (R2 = 0.8754) for Gnathonemus senegalensis. However, poor correlations were observed between mercury concentration and fresh weight and total length for the other six species. Mercury in sediments ranged from 11.87 to 70.25 ng/g dry weights with a mean of 41.60 ng/g dry weight being below the IAEA threshold of 810 ng/g.. These values show that sections of the Upper Volta River remain relatively clean in spite of substantial loadings of mercury into the river’s basin from gold mining activities.
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Acknowledgments
The authors would like to thank Mr. Munir Abdullah Dawwod of Pure and Applied Biology Department, Faculty of Biosciences, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology for identifying the fish species. We are also thankful to Mr. D. O. Abdul Rahaman, Department of Fisheries, Yeji, for his help in obtaining the samples for analysis. Lastly we wish to express our gratitude to Dr. Niladri Basu and Dr. Dong-Ha Nam, all of the Department of Environmental Health Sciences, School of Public Health, University of Michigan for their technical support.
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Kwaansa-Ansah, E.E., Agorku, S.E. & Nriagu, J.O. Levels of Total Mercury in Different Fish Species and Sediments from the Upper Volta Basin at Yeji in Ghana. Bull Environ Contam Toxicol 86, 406–409 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00128-011-0214-2
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00128-011-0214-2