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

Table 2

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

Metals (µg g^−1)	Site	Winter	Spring	Summer	Autumn
Cadmium	Beni-Ensar	0.609^c ± 0.003	0.224^a ± 0.001	0.805^d ± 0.004	0.321^b ± 0.001
	Ras el Ma	0.868^d ± 0.004	0.354^a ± 0.002	0.504^c ± 0.002	0.463^b ± 0.002
	El-Houceima	1.347^d ± 0.007	0.107^a ± 0.001	0.311^b ± 0.001	0.653^c ± 0.003
Mercury	Beni-Ensar	0.038^c ± 0.000	<0.001 ± 0.000	0.012^b ± 0.000	<0.001 ± 0.000
	Ras el Ma	0.036^b ± 0.000	<0.001 ± 0.000	0.166^d ± 0.001	0.058^c ± 0.001
	El-Houceima	0.080^c ± 0.001	<0.001 ± 0.000	0.010^b ± 0.000	<0.001 ± 0.000
Lead	Beni-Ensar	<0.001 ± 0.000	0.081^a ± 0.000	0.107^b ± 0.000	0.186^c ± 0.000
	Ras el Ma	0.076^a ± 0.001	0.153^b ± 0.001	0.173 ± 0.001	0.114^b ± 0.000
	El-Houceima	0.104 ± 0.001	0.087 ± 0.001	0.081 ± 0.001	0.156 ± 0.001
Arsenic	Beni-Ensar	5.510^a ± 0.027	5.898^b ± 0.295	11.53^d ± 0.058	8.259^c ± 0.041
	Ras el Ma	6.437^a ± 0.032	14.613^c ± 0.073	14.80^d ± 0.074	12.23^b ± 0.000
	El-Houceima	13.36^d ± 0.067	2.38^a ± 0.012	6.15^b ± 0.03	6.30^c ± 0.03

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