[Metal concentrations in fishes of the Rednitz River]

We investigated 39 fish species (eel, brown trout, chub, carp bream, roach, perch, pike etc.) from the river Rednitz (North Bavaria) for content of the metals mercury, lead, cadmium, arsenic, selenium and zinc. The residue tolerance level for mercury (1 mg/kg) and the standard value of the Federal Public Health Office for lead (0.5 mg/kg) and cadmium (0.05 mg/kg) have not been exceeded in any case. Because a small selenium concentration gives protection against the toxicity of mercury, we also have calculated the molar selenium-mercury-correlation in the fish-samples.