Abstract
Three highly consumed fish including Nile Tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus), Gray Mullet (Mugil cephalus) and California
Sardine (Sardinops sagax) and black tiger shrimp (Penaeus monodon) in Riyadh market, Saudi Arabia were evaluated for
their composition of arsenic, cadmium, chromium, nickel, lead, copper, zinc, and manganese metals. The concentration of
metals was determined in the muscle and the head of fish and shrimp using atomic absorption spectrophotometry (AA). The
maximum metals in the samples were found in the head of shrimp and sardine. The maximum As, Cd, Cr, Ni, Pb, Cu, Zn,
and Mn concentrations in fish muscles were 0.033, 0.369, 0.007, 0.012, 0.005, 0.76, 6.28 and 0.26 µg/g respectively.
Meanwhile, zinc and copper were the highest in shrimp muscle. The concentration of metals was below the maximum
allowed daily intake limit by the Saudi and International Legislations for fish human consumption permissible limit. The
calculated maximum daily intakes (MDI) were found to be 0.055, 0.613, 0.012, 0.020, 0.008, 1.262, 10.432 and 0.432 µg/day
for As, Cd, Cr, Ni, Pb, Cu, Zn, and Mn in fish muscle respectively. While the MDIs' of those metals in shrimp muscle were
0.382, 0.728, 0.050, 0.033, 0.013, 3.588, 22.525 and 0.432 µg/day.
