Abstract

ALVAREZ FERMIN, Luis Alberto  and  ROJAS, Luis Alfredo. TOTAL MERCURY CONTENT IN COMMON CONSUMPTION FISH IN INDIGENOUS SETTLEMENTS EL PLOMO AND EL CASABE - BOLÍVAR STATE. uct [online]. 2009, vol.13, n.51, pp.097-102. ISSN 1316-4821.

In the proximities areas of two indigenous settlements with antecedents in auriferous mining, located in the margins boundaries of the rivers Paragua (El Casabe) and Caroní (El Plomo), the capture of habitual consumption fish was practiced by its settlers and the muscle weave total mercury content was determined to them by the atomic absorption technique, cold steam. To the obtained values, the Sperman test was applied not being correlation between the total mercury with the stature and the weight, while the Mann-Whitney test (Wilcoxon) revealed no significant differences in El Casabe, comparing the mercurial content of the omnivorous-herbivores species with piscivorous, omnivorous, insectivorous and detritívorus and the insectivorous with the omnivorous, although there were differences when comparing the detritivorus with piscivorous, omnivores and insectivores, as well as between insectivorous and piscivorous and omnivorous with piscivorous. In El Plomo were significant differences between piscivorous and detritívorus. Of the total analyzed species, six (46,13%) showed average values of total mercury over 0,5 μg/g (OMS/FAO) and, in similar species, these values were superiors in El Plomo related to the observed ones in El Casabe.

Keywords : Mercury; Consumption Fishes; Indigenous Settlements; El Plomo; El Casabe.