Arsenic contamination in the freshwater fish ponds of Pearl River Delta: bioaccumulation and health risk assessment

This study investigated the extent of arsenic (As) contamination in five common species of freshwater fish (northern snakehead [ Channa argus ], mandrarin fish [ Siniperca chuatsi ], largemouth bass [ Lepomis macrochirous ], bighead carp [ Aristichthys nobilis ] and grass carp [ Ctenopharyngodon idellus ]) and their associated fish pond sediments collected from 18 freshwater fish ponds around the Pearl River Delta (PRD). The total As concentrations detected in fish muscle and sediment in freshwater ponds around the PRD were 0.05–3.01 mg kg −1 wet weight (w. wt) and 8.41–22.76 mg kg −1 dry weight (d. wt), respectively. In addition, the As content was positively correlated ( p