Metal accumulation in economically important fish species from Gökova Bay, Türkiye: approaches of statistical modeling and risk assessment for consumer’s health

Genç, Tuncer Okan; Yılmaz, Fevzi; Yıldız, Dilek; Yılmaz, Ersin; Atasoy, Muhammet; Genç, Gizem; Şengül, Ceyda

doi:10.26881/oahs-2025.1.26

Figures & Tables

Scatter plots of predicted and actual values of analytes Fe and Mn for S. undosquamis. (A) Estimated Model of Fe. (B) Estimated Model of Mn.

Similar to Fig. 1 but for analytes Fe and Mn for D. Labrax.

Description of some of the indices that were used in the study of the present fish samples_

Indexes	Aim	Methods	Reference
Condition coefficients (CF)	Estimation of the condition of the fish by looking at the length–weight relationship	CF = (W/TL³) × 100 where W is the weight (g), TL is the total length (mm)	Bolger and Connolly (1989)
EDI	The EDI was evaluated based on the metal concentrations in the fish studied and their consumption characteristics	EDI (mg · day^-1 · person^-1) = C_metal × W_food/BwThe variable C_metal (μg · g^-1, on fresh weight basis) is the concentration of heavy metals in contaminated fish; W_food represents the daily average consumption of fish in this region; and BW is the body weight	Griboff et al. (2017)
THQ	Assessment of the risk to human health from the consumption of fish contaminated with heavy metals	THQ=EFr×EDtot×FIR×CRfDo×BWa×ATn×10−3{\rm{THQ}} = {{{\rm{EFr}} \times {\rm{EDtot}} \times {\rm{FIR}} \times C} \over {{\rm{RfDo}} \times {\rm{BWa}} \times {\rm{ATn}}}} \times {10^{ - 3}}; EFr is exposure frequency(365 days · year^-1); EDtot is the exposure duration (77 years for adults and 7 years for child, average lifetime); FIR is the food ingestion rate (18.6 g · day^-1); C is the heavy metal concentration in fish (mg · g^-1); RfDo is the oral reference dose (mg · kg^-1 · day^-1), BWa is the average adult BW (70 kg for adults and 32 kg for child); and ATn is the averaging exposure time for non-carcinogens (365 days · year^-1 number of exposure years, assuming 77 years). RfD (mg · person^-1 · day^-1) of metals	TSI (2010, 2013); USEPA (2011)
TTHQ	To assess the overall potential health risk of multiple metals, each metal’s THQ is summed and called the TTHQ	Total THQ (TTHQ) = THQ (toxicant 1) + THQ (toxicant 2) + THQ (toxicant 3) + …. + THQ (toxicant n)	Chien et al. (2002)
CR	CR is an individual’s increased lifetime probability of developing cancer from exposure to a potential carcinogen	CR = CSF × EDI where, CSF is the carcinogenic slope factor of 0.0085 (mg · kg^-1 · day^-1) for Pb and 1.7 (mg · kg^-1 · day^-1) for Ni. Since Fe and Cu don’t cause any carcinogenic effects as their CSF have yet not been established (USEPA, 2012)	USEPA (2000)

Mean metal concentrations (mg · g-1 wet weight ± SD) in fish tissues from Gökova Bay and species comparison

		D. labrax			S. undosquamis
		Muscle (n = 40)	Gill (n = 40)	Liver (n = 40)	Muscle (n = 40)	Gill (n = 40)	Liver (n = 40)
Cu	*1 (n =* 10)**	2.712 ± 0.341	15.541 ± 1.791	66.53 ± 7.481	1.053 ± 0.175	3.520 ± 0.175	12.219 ± 0.896
	*2 (n =* 10)**	2.452 ± 0.189	17.685 ± 1.322	73.736 ± 4.059	1.551 ± 0.188	5.385 ± 0.581	22.270 ± 2.627
	*3 (n =* 10)**	2.144 ± 0.325	62.714 ± 9.295	11.285 ± 1.715	3.827 ± 0.285	12.066 ± 0.964	38.98 ± 2.693
	*4 (n =* 10)**	2.550 ± 0.215	87.783 ± 4.170	14.876 ± 1.025	1.749 ± 0.215	6.951 ± 0.785	20.895 ± 2.136
Fe	1 (n = 10)	60.348 ± 6.196	376.47 ± 34. 064	633.675 ± 40.696	15.305 ± 1.273	86.202 ± 11.073	125.754 ± 9.536
	2 (n = 10)	60.802 ± 7.25	371.517 ± 41.689	605.858 ± 50.505	27.858 ± 3.438	170.896 ± 20.424	225.57 ± 28.44
	3 (n = 10)	83.29 ± 4.919	468.623 ± 31.02	697.461 ± 35.796	59.568 ± 6.785	353.878 ± 38.523	474.38 ± 54.56
	4 (n = 10)	86.215 ± 5.648	474. 849 ± 33.317	683.419 ± 22.297	20.512 ± 1.905	136.027 ± 12.614	174.715 ± 18.09
Mn	1 (n = 10)	3.136 ± 0.695	11.898 ± 2.584	17.572 ± 3.06	1.892 ± 0.116	10.802 ± 0.319	18.837 ± 0.486
	2 (n = 10)	3.552 ± 0.502	13.11 ± 1.719	25.019 ± 2.452	3.305 ± 0.187	13.711 ± 0.737	23.363 ± 0.952
	3 (n = 10)	5.68 ± 0.205	23.106 ± 0.523	44.639 ± 1.744	4.718 ± 0.299	19.541 ± 1.219	30.596 ± 1.735
	4 (n = 10)	6.50 ± 0.072	26.975 ± 0.628	51.156 ± 1.832	2.703 ± 0.229	12.571 ± 0.527	22.057 ± 0.989
Zn	1 (n = 10)	15.454 ± 2.042	29.678 ± 3.308	65.701 ± 5.815	3.781 ± 0.273	8.926 ± 0.559	20.169 ± 1.222
	2 (n = 10)	25.289 ± 3.618	50.069 ± 6.264	78.796 ± 7.839	5.468 ± 0.696	16.918 ± 1.963	59.274 ± 6.378
	3 (n = 10)	16.569 ± 1.439	51.814 ± 3.151	108.958 ± 6.671	9.396 ± 1.168	41.961 ± 4.380	75.406 ± 6.367
	4 (n = 10)	19.667 ± 1.374	52.973 ± 4.137	92.881 ± 3.598	5.669 ± 0.734	21.172 ± 3.374	44.546 ± 6.194
Cd	1 (n = 10)	0.117 ± 0.010	0.193 ± 0.013	0.252 ± 0.015	0.104 ± 0.013	0.236 ± 0.032	0.456 ± 0.043
	2 (n = 10)	0.141 ± 0.017	0.232 ± 0.015	0.296 ± 0.018	0.177 ± 0.015	0.354 ± 0.033	0.575 ± 0.0387
	3 (n = 10)	0.275 ± 0.020	0.446 ± 0.018	0.672 ± 0.014	0.241 ± 0.021	0.483 ± 0.045	0.708 ± 0.060
	4 (n = 10)	0.258 ± 0.022	0.408 ± 0.029	0.630 ± 0.034	0.141 ± 0.014	0.288 ± 0.027	0.484 ± 0.039
Pb	1 (n = 10)	0.004 ± 0.001	0.020 ± 0.002	0.028 ± 0.002	0.003 ± 0.0003	0.006 ± 0.0006	0.011 ± 0.001
	2 (n = 10)	0.005 ± 0.001	0.023 ± 0.003	0.038 ± 0.007	0.006 ± 0.0007	0.011 ± 0.002	0.015 ± 0.002
	3 (n = 10)	0.104 ± 0.001	0.022 ± 0.002	0.032 ± 0.003	0.011 ± 0.001	0.024 ± 0.002	0.03 ± 0.002
	4 (n = 10)	0.011 ± 0.001	0.024 ± 0.003	0.036 ± 0.004	0.006 ± 0.001	0.012 ± 0.002	0.019 ± 0.002
Se	1 (n = 10)	0.005 ± 0.0003	0.006 ± 0.0003	0.015 ± 0.008	0.005 ± 0.0003	0.007 ± 0.0003	0.009 ± 0.0002
	2 (n = 10)	0.005 ± 0.0002	0.007 ± 0.0002	0.008 ± 0.0003	0.006 ± 0.0003	0.007 ± 0.0003	0.009 ± 0.0003
	3 (n = 10)	0.004 ± 0.0003	0.006 ± 0.0005	0.007 ± 0.0005	0.004 ± 0.0003	0.005 ± 0.0003	0.008 ± 0.0004
	4 (n = 10)	0.004 ± 0.0002	0.006 ± 0.0003	0.007 ± 0.0003	0.004 ± 0.0003	0.006 ± 0.0003	0.008 ± 0.0003
Hg	1 (n = 10)	0.0115 ± 0.0005	0.0262 ± 0.001	0.0471 ± 0.002	0.012 ± 0.0004	0.023 ± 0.001	0.043 ± 0.001
	2 (n = 10)	0.0114 ± 0.0005	0.028 ± 0.001	0.0469 ± 0.002	0.016 ± 0.0005	0.028 ± 0.0008	0.043 ± 0.001
	3 (n = 10)	0.010 ± 0.0005	0.023 ± 0.001	0.041 ± 0.002	0.024 ± 0.0006	0.042 ± 0.0008	0.058 ± 0.001
	4 (n = 10)	0.010 ± 0.0003	0.020 ± 0.0007	0.037 ± 0.001	0.014 ± 0.0005	0.026 ± 0.001	0.043 ± 0.002

Correlation coefficients of metals and CF in fish_

	Cu	Fe	Mn	Zn	Cd	Pb	Se	Hg	CF
*S. undosquamis*
Cu	1.000
Fe	0.837**	1000
Mn	0.933**	0.851**	1000
Zn	0.892**	0.834**	0.914**	1000
Cd	0.831**	0.740**	0.878**	0.844**	1000
Pb	0.789**	0.784**	0.797**	0.820**	0.726**	1000
Se	0.613**	0.500**	0.686**	0.572**	0.626**	0.404**	1000
Hg	0.902**	0.840**	0.927**	0.897**	0.882**	0.776**	0.651**	1000
CF	-0.061	0.001	0.018	-0.008	0.098	0.043	0.123	0.033	1000
*D. labrax*
Cu	1000
Fe	0.657**	1000
Mn	0.597**	0.820**	1000
Zn	0.555**	0.768**	0.788**	1000
Cd	0.377**	0.601**	0.767**	0.715**	1000
Pb	0.632**	0.745**	0.755**	0.790**	0.701**	1000
Se	0.621**	0.673**	0.598**	0.638**	0.363**	0.677**	1000
Hg	0.647**	0.802**	0.682**	0.765**	0.429**	0.762**	0.903**	1000
CF	1000	0.200*	0.161	0.002	0.285**	0.018	-0.014	-0.076	1000

Length, weight, and CF in fish_

Species	Season	Average length (cm)	Min-Max length (cm)	Average weight (g)	Min-Max weight (g)	CF
D. labrax	Winter	32.18 ± 1.31	30.8–34.5	345.19 ± 20.16	319.05–380.07	1.04 ± 0.12
	Spring	31.25 ± 2.04	27.50–33.50	337.30 ± 36.01	284.33–377.11	1.13 ± 0.27
	Summer	28.04 ± 3.28	22.5–32	295.57 ± 26.51	252.89–325.41	1.40 ± 0.4
	Autumn	27.59 ± 2.29	23.70–31.5	275.84 ± 30.54	230.12–324.85	1.35 ± 0.31
	Mean	29.77 ± 3.02	22.50–34.50	313.48 ± 40.24	230.1–380.07	1.23 ± 0.32
S. undosquamis	Winter	26 ± 2.69	21–29	122.18 ± 36.81	49.59–165.69	0.67 ± 0.11
	Spring	25.25 ± 1.96	22.5–29	119.53 ± 32.9	78.25–174.18	0.73 ± 0.10
	Summer	24.11 ± 3.34	19.8–29.5	97.55 ± 38.64	46.35–162.39	0.66 ± 0.07
	Autumn	24.25 ± 2.95	19.5–29	87.11 ± 37.55	39.79–140.5	0.57 ± 0.08
	Mean	24.903 ± 2.8	19.50–29.50	106.6 ± 38.16	39.79–174.18	0.66 ± 0.11

Outcomes of estimated random forest models for accumulations_

Species	Analyte	RMSE	% Var exp.	Opt. no. trees	MS residuals	Correlation
S. undosquamis	Cu	0.515	72.77	733	0.266	0.881
	Fe	0.351	86.85	158	0.123	0.961
	Mn	0.292	91.00	406	0.085	0.978
	Cd	0.359	86.57	522	0.129	0.963
	Zn	0.324	87.66	77	0.105	0.966
	Pb	0.337	87.19	45	0.113	0.958
	Se	0.360	86.36	268	0.131	0.954
	Hg	0.259	92.45	182	0.067	0.978
D. labrax	Cu	0.232	88.08	1	0.054	0.972
	Fe	0.243	93.23	37	0.059	0.980
	Mn	0.251	92.90	186	0.063	0.980
	Zn	0.328	88.74	991	0.108	0.964
	Cd	0.393	84.33	258	0.155	0.941
	Pb	0.660	54.82	37	0.436	0.764
	Se	0.491	75.20	441	0.241	0.951
	Hg	0.250	93.32	806	0.062	0.983

Analysis results of the metals in the CRM_

Analyte	Certified value (mg · kg^-1)	Found value (mg · kg^-1)	Recovery(%)
Cu	35.0 ± 2.4	35.8 ± 1.3	102.3
Fe	1070 ± 80	1075 ± 28	100.5
Mn	8.91 ± 0.70	9.23 ± 0.54	100.6
Cd	14.5 ± 0.6	14.7 ± 0.4	103.6
Zn	105.3 ± 5.4	100.2 ± 3.6	95.2
Pb	0.162 ± 0.032	0.170 ± 0.018	104.9
Se	8.3 ± 1.8	8.6 ± 0.8	104.8
Hg	0.44 ± 0.18	0.42 ± 0.11	95.5

THQ, TTHQ, EDI, CR values of metals via consumption of D_ labrax and S_ undosquamis

			EDI (mg · day^-1 · person^-1)	Recommended limits (mg · day^-1 · person^-1)	Ref.	THQ	TTHQ		CR
			EDI (mg · day^-1 · person^-1)	Recommended limits (mg · day^-1 · person^-1)	Ref.	THQ	Adults	Children	CR
*D. labrax*	Cu	Adults	0.5305	30	FAO/WHO (2002)	0.0382	0.2898	0.0598	-
	Cu	Children	1.1605			0.0084			-
	Fe	Adults	15.6424	100	WHO (2003)	0.0644			-
	Fe	Children	34.2178			0.0141			-
	Mn	Adults	1.0154	1	FAO/WHO (2002)	0.0209			-
	Mn	Children	2.2211			0.0009			-
	Zn	Adults	4.1428	30	FAO/WHO (2011)	0.0398			-
	Zn	Children	9.0625			0.0087			-
	Pb	Adults	0.0017	0.3	FAO/WHO (2022)	0.0012			4.11E–08
	Pb	Children	0.0037			0.0003			8.99E–09
	Cd	Adults	0.0426	0.06	FAO/WHO (2009)	0.1226			0.0008
	Cd	Children	0.0931			0.0268			0.0002
	Se	Adults	0.0009	1	FAO/WHO (1983)	0.0005			-
	Se	Children	0.002			0.0001			-
	Hg	Adults	0.0023	0.03	FAO/WHO (2009)	0.0022			-
	Hg	Children	0.005			0.0005			-
*S. undosquamis*	Cu	Adults	0.4402	30	FAO/WHO (2002)	0.0317	0.223	0.049	-
	Cu	Children	0.963			0.0069			-
	Fe	Adults	6.6327	100	WHO (2003)	0.0273			-
	Fe	Children	14.509			0.0060			-
	Mn	Adults	0.6079	1	FAO/WHO (2002)	0.0140			-
	Mn	Children	1.4855			0.0031			-
	Zn	Adults	1.3085	30	FAO/WHO (2011)	0.0126			-
	Zn	Children	2.8624			0.0027			-
	Pb	Adults	0.0013	0.3	FAO/WHO (2022)	0.0010			3.28E–08
	Pb	Children	0.0029			0.0002			7.17E–09
	Cd	Adults	0.0357	0.06	FAO/WHO (2009)	0.1024			0.0006
	Cd	Children	0.0780			0.0225			0.0001
	Se	Adults	0.0010	1	FAO/WHO (1983)	0.0006			-
	Se	Children	0.0022			0.0001			-
	Hg	Adults	0.0035	0.03	FAO/WHO (2009)	0.0336			-
	Hg	Children	0.0077			0.0073			-

Metal accumulation in economically important fish species from Gökova Bay, Türkiye: approaches of statistical modeling and risk assessment for consumer’s health

Figures & Tables

Figure 1

Figure 2

Figure 3

Description of some of the indices that were used in the study of the present fish samples_

Mean metal concentrations (mg · g-1 wet weight ± SD) in fish tissues from Gökova Bay and species comparison

Correlation coefficients of metals and CF in fish_

Length, weight, and CF in fish_

Outcomes of estimated random forest models for accumulations_

Analysis results of the metals in the CRM_

THQ, TTHQ, EDI, CR values of metals via consumption of D_ labrax and S_ undosquamis

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