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Mercury and selenium concentrations in marine shrimps of NW Mexico: health risk assessment

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Abstract

We determined total Hg and Se contents of hepatopancreas, exoskeleton, and muscle, and the Se:Hg molar ratios in the muscle of shrimps Farfantepenaeus californiensis and Litopenaeus stylirostris caught in NE Pacific Mexican waters. Total Hg mean values in muscle, hepatopancreas, and exoskeleton were 0.31 ± 0.26, 0.28 ± 0.29, and 0.24 ± 0.06 μg g−1, and 0.46 ± 0.46, 0.41 ± .034, and 0.24 ± 0.06 μg g−1 for F. californiensis and L. stylirostris, respectively. In all tissues, the mean concentrations of Se tended to be close to one order of magnitude higher than the respective Hg values. In F. californiensis, the hepatopancreas of the larger commercial size had significantly (p < 0.05) higher Hg content than smaller sizes, but correlations size-Hg concentration calculated for each tissue of either species were not significant. The Hg content of the muscle of all commercial sizes of both species was lower than the permissible limit and their Se:Hg ratios in all sizes were higher than 1, indicating low risk for human consumption.

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Acknowledgments

Supported by the projects PROFAPI 2014/074 and PROMEP 103.5/13/9354 of the Universidad Autónoma de Sinaloa, INFRA 2012-01-188029 and 230061 of Consejo Nacional de Ciencia y Tecnología, and PAPIIT IN208613 of Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México. Karla Sánchez helped with the laboratory work.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Facultad de Ciencias del Mar, Universidad Autónoma de Sinaloa, Paseo Claussen s/n, 82000, Mazatlán, Sinaloa, Mexico

    M. G. Frías-Espericueta, M. Aguilar-Juárez, G. Izaguirre-Fierro & C. C. Osuna-Martínez

  2. Programa de Posgrado en Ciencias del Mar y Limnología, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, México D.F., Mexico

    B. Y. Ramos-Magaña

  3. Instituto Tecnológico de Mazatlán, 82000, Mazatlán, Sinaloa, Mexico

    J. Ruelas-Inzunza

  4. UA Mazatlán ICMyL, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, 82000, Mazatlán, Sinaloa, Mexico

    M. F. Soto-Jiménez

  5. Cátedras-Conacyt, Facultad de Ciencias del Mar, Universidad Autónoma de Sinaloa, 82000, Mazatlán, Sinaloa, Mexico

    O. Escobar-Sánchez

  6. Laboratorio de Estudios Ambientales UAS-CIBNOR, Centro de Investigaciones Biológicas del Noroeste, P.O. Box 1132, 82000, Mazatlán, Sinaloa, Mexico

    D. Voltolina

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  1. M. G. Frías-Espericueta
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  2. B. Y. Ramos-Magaña
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  3. J. Ruelas-Inzunza
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  4. M. F. Soto-Jiménez
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  5. O. Escobar-Sánchez
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  6. M. Aguilar-Juárez
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  7. G. Izaguirre-Fierro
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  8. C. C. Osuna-Martínez
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  9. D. Voltolina
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to D. Voltolina.

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Frías-Espericueta, M.G., Ramos-Magaña, B.Y., Ruelas-Inzunza, J. et al. Mercury and selenium concentrations in marine shrimps of NW Mexico: health risk assessment. Environ Monit Assess 188, 629 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10661-016-5645-0

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