DISTRIBUTION OF MERCURY IN THE LIVER AND GILLS OF THE SCORPION FISH (SCORPAENA PORCUS LINNAEUS, 1758) FROM THE SEVASTOPOL BAYS

The condition of marine organisms mirrors the impact that natural or anthropogenic factors have on them, hence results of an analysis of the mercury content in fish, for example, can help to assess the pollution of sea water with this element. In this study, organs of 86 fish caught in four Sevastopol bays: Karantinnaya, Streletskaya, Kruglaya and Balaklavskaya, were analyzed. Scorpion fish (Scorpaena porcus Linnaeus, 1758) was chosen for research because it is a rather inactive fish, staying close to the sea bottom, which can help to evaluate the degree of mercury pollution in the Sevastopol bays. The purpose of the work was to investigate the distribution of mercury in the liver and gills of Black Sea scorpion fish of different sex and age. Mercury in samples was determined by atomic absorption spectrometry (AAS). The study showed that the concentration of mercury in the liver exceeded the concentration of mercury in the gills in fish from all the bays studied. The highest concentration, exceeding the legal limit (500.00 ng g(-1)), was recorded only in the liver of one female (752.6 ng g(-1)) and the liver of one male from Streletskaya Bay (571.4 ng g(-1)). In addition, the average concentration for females and males was approximately the same: 168.4 ng g(-1) and 169.2 ng g(-1), respectively. The absolute concentration of mercury in the liver of all scorpion fish from Streletskaya Bay varied in the range 22.73-752.6 ng g(-1), with an average of 167.7 ng g(-1). In the bays of Karantinnaya, Kruglaya and Balaklavskaya, the concentration of mercury in the fish liver did not exceed the permissible level, varying from 22.18 to 395.8 ng g(-1). The highest content of mercury in the liver of Scorpaena porcus from Streletskaya Bay may be associated with he developed infrastructure and shipping, which pollute the water area.