Comparison Between Age, Length and Weight with Mercury Concentration in the Muscle of Two Fish species; Barbus Grypus and Barbus luteus of Fishes Maroon River in Behbahan

Increasing attention is nowadays being paid to contaminants in fish due to their significant effects on the fish and other organisms that live on them. This study was designed to investigate mercury concentrations in the muscle tissues of the two species of Barbus grypus and Barbus luteus indigenous to the Maroon River in Behbahan, southeast of Khuzestan Province. For this purpose, 20 fish from each species were randomly collected from the river over the period from June to December 2009. The fish were then subjected to biometric tests and their gender and age were determined while the Mercury Analyzer AMA254 was used to measure mercury concentrations in their muscle tissues. Examination of the data on age and weight correlations with mercury concentration in the muscle tissues of both species showed that the data did not exhibit a normal distribution but, rather, revealed statistically significant differences. Comparison of the mean values of mercury concentration in the tissues (0.809 mg/kg in Barbus grypus and 0.388 mg/kg in Barbus luteus) with MRL standard limits showed that both species had mercury concentrations below the maximum standard limit set by the EPA. Comparison with WHO standard limits, however, revealed that Barbus grypus had a muscle mercury concentration higer than the WHO allowable limit.