Mercury in Cetacean Meat Sold as Food in Japan

Total Mercury, Methyl Mercury, and Selenium Levels in the Red Meat of  Small Cetaceans Sold for Human Consumption in Japan

Tetsuya Endo, Koichi Haraguchi, Yohei Hotta, Yohsuke Hisamichi, Shane Lavery, Merell Dalebout and C. Scott Baker

Environ. Sci. Technol. 2005, 39, 5703-5708

Introduction
We surveyed the total mercury (T-Hg) and methyl mercury (M-Hg) levels in red meat products (n ) 160) from small cetacean species sold for human consumption in markets throughout Japan from 2000 to 2003. Genetic identification showed that the red meat products originated from nine species: false killer whale, bottlenose dolphin, shortfinned pilot whale, striped dolphin, rough-toothed dolphin,
Risso’s dolphin, pantropical spotted dolphin, Baird’s beaked whale, and Dall’s porpoise. T-Hg and M-Hg concentrations in all red meat products exceeded the provisional permitted levels of T-Hg (0.4 íg/wet g) and M-Hg (0.3 íg/wet g) in fish and shellfish set by the Japanese government, respectively.