CONCENTRATIONS OF Hg, Pb, Cd AND As IN MEAT OF FISH-POND CARP (CYPRINUS CARPIO)

Heavy metals and metalloids are very frequent pollutants of surface waters. Due to high toxicity heavy metals are dangerous for living organisms. Contamination chain is always in the following cycle: industry, atmosphere, soil, water, phytoplankton, fish and human beings. The aim of the research is to determine concentration of Pb, Hg, Cd and As in meat of two-year-old fish-pond carp. For lead and mercury determination electrothermal technique to AAS Perkin-Elmer 4100 ZL was applied whereas to determine concentration of Hg and As we applied hydride technique to AAS Perkin-Elmer 2380 with MHS-10 system. In 17 analysed meat samples concentration of Pb ranged from 0,120 to 0,750 mg kg -1, Hg from 0,024 to 0,308 mg kg-1, Cd from 0,07 to 0,019mg kg-1and As from 0,025 to 0,052 mg .kg-1 The research has proved positive correlation at high level of significance between concentration of Pb and body weight (r=0,914; p 0,001) whereas correlation between body weight and concentration of Hg (r=0,512, P 0,05) was significant. Determined concentrations of heavy metals in fish-pond carp meat are lower than those permitted by the Law on Foodstuffs of the Republic of Croatia.