Accumulations of total metal in dominant shrimp species (Palaemon adspersus, Palaemon serratus, Parapenaeus longirostris) and bottom surface sediments obtained from the Northern Inner Shelf of the Sea of Marmara A. Kurun & H. Balkıs & N. Balkıs Received: 2 August 2006 / Accepted: 12 February 2007 / Published online: 4 April 2007 # Springer Science + Business Media B.V. 2007 Abstract The aim of this study is to determine the total metal (aluminum, copper, manganese, nickel, lead, zinc, cadmium, iron, mercury) contents of dominant shrimp species and sediments present at 1–50 m depths of the Northern Inner Shelf of the Sea of Marmara. Shrimp and sediment samples were collected from four regions (Büyükçekmece, Silivri, Tekirdağ, Şarköy) and from different depths (1, 5, 10, 20, 30, 50 m) at each region in September and November of 2003. Three shrimp species [Palaemon adspersus (Rathke, 1937), Palaemon serratus (Pennant, 1777), Parapenaeus longirostris (H. Lucas, 1846)] were identified to be dominant as a result of the exam- ination on the obtained samples. Heavy metal contents of these three species were determined and the results were compared with the acceptable treshold values of the Seafood Standards and also with available liter- atures. The Cu contents were found to be higher than the treshold limits in all samples except P. longirostris from Silivri, also the Cd contents in all samples except P. adspersus from Büyükçekmece, the Zn contents only in P. adspersus and P. longirostris from Tekirdağ, and the Pb contents in all species from all regions. These high values are the indicator of industrial pollution. There is not any data in the Seafood Standards about Mn, Ni, Fe and Al contents in shrimp species. The values of these metal contents were given in the present study. The examination of total metal distributions in bottom surface sediment samples in the Northern Inner Shelf of the Sea of Marmara showed that the determined values were higher than the shale average at some depths of examined stations. Keywords Ecological properties . Sediment . Shrimp . The Sea of Marmara . Total metal Introduction The Sea of Marmara is a semi-enclosed basin (size ∼70×250 km, surface area 11,500 km 2 and maximum depth 1,390 m) located between the continents of Europe and Asia (Beşiktepe et al. 1995), forming the “Turkish Straits System” along with the Istanbul Strait and the Çanakkale Strait (Ünlüata et al. 1990) (Fig. 1). Moreover, the Sea of Marmara is oligotro- phic in nature (Balkıs 2003). In the Sea of Marmara which has a two-layer water column, the brackish Black Sea waters with 17.6‰ salinity flow towards the Sea of Marmara through the Istanbul Strait with a surface current, and the Mediterranean-based waters with about 38.5‰ Environ Monit Assess (2007) 135:353–367 DOI 10.1007/s10661-007-9655-9 A. Kurun (*) : H. Balkıs Faculty of Science, Department of Biology, Istanbul University, 34134 Vezneciler, Istanbul, Turkey e-mail: aysegulm@istanbul.edu.tr N. Balkıs Institute of Marine Sciences and Management, Istanbul University, Vefa 34470, Istanbul, Turkey