The first assessment on metal contamination in the critically endangered Sawback Angel Shark ‎‎(Squatina aculeata) from north-eastern Mediterranean.‎

Abstract

A Sawback angel shark (Squatina aculeata) classified as “Critically Endangered” Global ‎Red List by the IUCN (2017) and CITES (2017) is one of the threated elasmobranch ‎groups and the increased pollution in the marine environment negatively impact angel ‎shark species. Despite this, limited information exists about the effects of toxic chemical ‎contamination in angel sharks. Therefore, present study was conducted to elucidate ‎heavy metal accumulation in Squatina aculeata captured from the Iskenderun Bay, ‎North-Eastern Mediterranean by electrochemical technique. Arsenic (As), Mercury (Hg), ‎Copper (Cu), Iron (Fe), Zinc (Zn) and Mangan (Mn) were found by electrochemical ‎analyzer. Among the gill and liver tissue samples of S. aculeata, Fe and Zn were detected ‎as highest concentrations followed by As, Hg, Mn and Cu; Among the muscle tissue of S. ‎aculeata, Fe and Zn were detected as highest followed by Hg, As, Mn and Cu. Average ‎total arsenic contents in S. aculeata was 7.5416±0.6548 μg g-1, which exceeded ‎maximum limit legalized for any kind of food. Similarly, Total mercury average content ‎in S. aculeata was 19.9942±1.6116 μg g -1, which exceeded the proposed limit value ‎which is 0.2-2 μg g-1, confirming that the consumption of S. aculeata is a high risk ‎threating the health of consumer. These results confirmed that the metal contamination ‎in North-Eastern Mediterranean area may pose a potential threat to the sustainability of ‎S. aculeata in marine ecosystem and the concentrations detected is the above the safety ‎limits for angel shark that should be taken into consideration regarding human ‎consumption.‎