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Abstract
Methylmercury is a highly toxic organic compound that bioaccumulates and biomagnifies in the human body when absorbed by the gastrointestinal tract after ingestion.1 Thus, monitoring methylmercury levels in fish is crucial for protecting public health and preventing dramatic scenarios such as the Minamata disease crisis in Japan. In this study, three different species of wild caught fish – Sockeye Salmon (Oncorhynchus nerka) from Alaska, USA; tuna imported from Vietnam; and swordfish (Xiphias gladius) imported from Indonesia – were collected from a Harris Teeter grocery store in Washington D.C. Total mercury concentration was measured by ICP-MS and the analyzed samples’ concentrations were 19.8 ± 2.9 ppb, 2.67 ± 0.01 ppm, and 380 ± 9 ppb for Sockeye Salmon, swordfish, and tuna, respectively.
Content
Supplementary materials
Calculations and Data
Three Excel Sheets
Calibrations Curve & and Sample Calculations: This Excel sheet provides data to form the calibration curve, calculations to determine mercury concentration from analyzed sample, conversion calculations to determine mercury concentration per gram of sample, and conversion calculations to determine error analysis mercury concentration per gram of sample.
Error Analysis: This Excel sheet provides calculations to determine the standard deviation in concentration (Sc) for samples and their spikes. In first Excel sheet, these Sc values are converted to account for mercury concentrations per gram of sample.
FDA Data: This data is provided by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Data is used to form a scatter plot and histogram (Figure 3 and Figure 4).
