Heavy Metals Concentration in Sardina pilchardus (Walbaum, 1792) from the Moroccan Mediterranean Coast and Potential Human Health Risk Assessment

Table 1

Mean ± standard deviation of cadmium, mercury, lead, and arsenic concentrations in the muscle of Sardina pilchardus from the Mediterranean coast of Morocco.

Metals (µg g^−1)	Site	Winter	Spring	Summer	Autumn
Cadmium	Beni-Ensar	0.292^a ± 0.02	<0.001 ± 0.00	0.194 ± ^a0.03	0.20^a ± 0.03
	Ras el Ma	0.008 ± 0.001	0.005 ± 0.00	<0.001 ± 0.00	<0.001 ± 0.00
	El-Houceima	0.012^a ± 0.001	<0.001 ± 0.00	0.401^b ± 0.03	0.005^a ± 0.001
Mercury	Beni-Ensar	<0.001 ± 0.00	0.016^a ± 0.00	0.016^a ± 0.001	0.026^b ± 0.00
	Ras el Ma	<0.001 ± 0.00	0.013 ± 0.001	<0.001 ± 0.00	<0.001 ± 0.00
	El-Houceima	0.207^d ± 0.001	0.012^a ± 0.001	0.093^c ± 0.001	0.060^b ± 0.001
Lead	Beni-Ensar	0.010 ± 0.001	0.013 ± 0.002	0.006 ± 0.001	0.004 ± 0.001
	Ras el Ma	0.009 ± 0.001	0.006 ± 0.001	0.002 ± 0.00	0.039 ± 0.001
	El-Houceima	0.004 ± 0.001	0.017 ± 0.001	0.005 ± 0.001	0.046 ± 0.001
Arsenic	Beni-Ensar	7.41^ab ± 1.18	5.06^a ± 1.55	5.80^a ± 1.86	9.53^b ± 1.25
	Ras el Ma	10.57^b ± 0.55	4.79^a ± 1.44	4.50^a ± 1.24	10.00^b ± 0.25
	El-Houceima	10.43^b ± 0.31	4.34^a ± 1.29	6.29^ab ± 1.07	9.83^b ± 0.37

The results are expressed in μg·g⁻¹ wet weight; significant differences () between means are shown with different lowercase letters (a-b).