Specific accumulation of heavy metals in squid collected from offshore Korean waters: preliminary results for offshore biomonitoring and food safety assessment

Abstract

Japanese common squid Todarodes pacificus collected from the East Sea/Sea of Japan were analyzed for cadmium, zinc and copper to elucidate the specific accumulation of heavy metals in various organs of squid of varying size and sex. There was no relationship between the size and sex of squid and the concentrations of heavy metals in various organs. Amongst organs, the liver contained the highest concentrations of all metals and the mantle had the lowest concentrations. In the liver and gills, concentrations of copper were higher than the other metals because of the existence of copper in hemocyanin in the blood. Cadmium showed the highest ratios (L/M) of the concentrations in the liver and in the mantle, even though cadmium in liver had lower concentrations than copper and zinc. This indicates that cephalopods constitute an important source of cadmium for cephalopod predators. The results show that the Japanese common squid is a useful bioindicator of metal pollution in offshore Korean waters.