Contents of Heavy Metals in Marine Invertebrates from the Korean Coast

West Sea Fisheries Research Institute, National Fisheries Research & Development Institute, Incheon 400-420, Korea AbstractTo measure the heavy metal contents of marine invertebrates, we collected 239 individuals representing 52 species from the eastern (Pohang), western (Gunsan), and southern (Tongyeong) coasts of Korea: 34 species of molluscan shellfish(Gastropoda and Bivalvia), 6 species of Cephalopoda, 8 species of Crustacea, and 4 other species. The mean levels of the heavy metals in the samples taken from the edible portion of each Gastropoda were high in the order of Zn (21.471 μg/g), Cu (4.115 μg/g), Mn (0.868 μg/g), Ni (0.254 μg/g), Pb (0.238 μg/g), Cd (0.154 μg/g), and Cr (0.110 μg/g). The heavy metals in the Bivalvia were high in the order of Zn (35.655 μg/g), Mn (5.500 μg/g), Cu (3.129 μg/g), Cd (0.423 μg/g), Ni (0.402 μg/g), Cr (0.233 μg/g), and Pb (0.232 μg/g). The heavy metals in the Cephalopoda were high in the order of Zn (18.380 μg/g), Cu (3.594 μg/g), Mn (0.630 μg/g), Cr (0.150 μg/g), Pb (0.068 μg/g), Cd (0.034 μg/g), and Ni (0.030 μg/g). The heavy metals in the Crustacea were high in the order of Zn (25.333 μg/g), Cu (9.042 μg/g), Mn (0.659 μg/g), Cr (0.592 μg/g), Cd (0.207 μg/g), Pb (0.126 μg/g), and Ni (0.094 μg/g). Therefore, the mean levels of the harmful heavy metals (Cd and Pb) in marine invertebrates were high in the order of Bivalvia>Crustacea＝Gastropoda>Cephalopoda. The average daily intakes of the heavy metals from the fisheries products were as follows: Cd (6.88 μg), Cr (19.13 μg), Cu (137.02 μg), Mn (156.13 μg), Ni (11.39 μg), Pb (7.01 μg) and Zn (1,025.94 μg). The average weekly intakes of Cd, Cu, Pb and Zn from the fisheries products were 11.47%, 0.46%, 3.27% and 1.71% respectively, as compared with PTWI (Provisional Tolerable Weekly Intakes) established by FAO/WHO Expert Committee for Food Safety Evaluation.Key words: marine invertebrates, heavy metal, daily average intake, provisional tolerable weekly intakes