Levels of Total Mercury in Marine Organisms from Adriatic Sea, Italy Monia Perugini Æ Pierina Visciano Æ Maurizio Manera Æ Annalisa Zaccaroni Æ Vincenzo Olivieri Æ Michele Amorena Received: 6 November 2008 / Accepted: 24 April 2009 / Published online: 12 May 2009 Ó Springer Science+Business Media, LLC 2009 Abstract The presence of total mercury in fish, crusta- cean and cephalopod from Adriatic Sea, was investigated. The highest concentrations were observed in decreasing order in: Norway lobster (0.97 ± 0.24 mg/kg; mean ± SE), European hake (0.59 ± 0.14 mg/kg), red mullet (0.48 ± 0.09 mg/kg), blue whiting (0.38 ± 0.09 mg/kg), Atlantic mackerel (0.36 ± 0.08 mg/kg) and European fly- ing squid (0.25 ± 0.03 mg/kg). A significant difference (p \ 0.01) was found between the levels of total mercury in Norway lobster and those detected in all other species. The 25% of all samples exceeded the maximum limit fixed by Commission Regulation (EC) No 1881/2006. The results show that fish and fishery products can exceed the maximum levels and stress the need of more information for consumers in particular for people that eat large amount of fish. Keywords Total mercury Á Fish Á Cephalopod Á Crustacean Mercury (Hg) is broadly spread in the environment, occurring, at different concentrations, in air, bedrock, soil, water and all biological matters. It presents itself in two distinct forms: the metallic or inorganic mercury and the organic mercury. Urbanization and anthropogenic activities have contributed to elevate levels of mercury in the atmosphere and the related atmospheric deposition is often the main source of Hg to the aquatic system. The toxicity of mercury derives from its extreme vola- tility, its relative solubility in water and lipids, and its capacity to bind with other molecules. In the aquatic eco- system mercury tends to be adsorbed by particles and deposited into sediments. There, under certain conditions, bacteria convert metallic or elemental forms of mercury to methylmercury (Ullrich et al. 2001). Dissolved organic matter in aquatic environments is known to bind trace metals strongly, affecting their speciation, solubility, mobility and toxicity. Methylmercury (MeHg) can be adsorbed in particles or from the water by small creatures such as shrimp and other invertebrates, which then are consumed by predators including fish. Among fish, benthic and predatory pelagic species accumulate this form of mercury. It must be noted that this accumulation occurs largerly through food chain transfer (biomagnification) and not through direct uptake from water or sediments. It is well known that MeHg is more toxic than inorganic mer- cury and is extremely toxic to marine organisms, wildlife and human. It affects the immune system, alters genetic and enzyme system and damages the nervous system (Hempel et al. 1995). In human the dietary intake is the main route of exposure to MeHg and fish represent the most common source all around the world. Food and Drug Administration established a Tolerable Daily Intake (TDI) based on a weekly tolerance of 0.3 mg of total mercury per person, of which no more than 0.2 mg M. Perugini Á P. Visciano (&) Á M. Manera Á M. Amorena Department of Food Science, University of Teramo, Viale Crispi 212, 64100 Teramo, Italy e-mail: pvisciano@unite.it A. Zaccaroni Department of Veterinary Public Health and Animal Pathology, University of Bologna, Via Tolara di Sopra 50, 40064 Ozzano Emilia, Bologna, Italy V. Olivieri Executive Veterinary ASL, Via Renato Paolini 47, 65124 Pescara, Italy 123 Bull Environ Contam Toxicol (2009) 83:244–248 DOI 10.1007/s00128-009-9758-9