Mercury content in muscle of chub (\kur{Leuciscus cephalus}) from the downstream tributaries of the Elbe river

Mercury content in muscle of chub (Leuciscus cephalus) from the downstream tributaries of the Elbe river. The aim of the present study was to investigate the concentration of total mercury in muscle of 141 chub (Leuciscus cephalus) from seven Czech rivers (Vltava, Berounka, Sázava, Ohře, Otava, Lužnice, Labe) and to evaluate the potential risk of eating fish from the rivers. Total mercury values results from 2011 were compared with 2010. Mercury was determined by means of cold vapour atomic absorption spectrometry using AMA-254. The highest mean concentrations of total mercury were found in the Otava-Topělec (0,240 +- 0,106 mg/kg) for year 2010 and Labe-Obříství (0,222 +- 0,102 mg/kg) for year 2011. The lowest mean concentrations of total mercury were found in the chub from the Berounka-Beroun for both years (0,053 +- 0,013 mg/kg and 0,064 +- 0,010, respectively). The fish intake hazard index calculated were between 0,1 and 0,4 for the individual tributaries monitored. The results of this study show that hygienic limit for fish product (0,5mg.kg-1) was exceeded in Otava-Topělec (0,59mg.kg-1)