Concentration and potential health risk of heavy metals in seafoods collected from Sanmen Bay and its adjacent areas, China

Highlights: • Heavy metal concentrations substantially varied among marine organism species. • Mollusc contained the highest concentrations of selected heavy metals. • Metal concentrations in organisms from Sanmen Bay were comparable to other areas. • Associations were found among metals in the tissues of marine organisms. • Exposure doses of most metals were safe for human health risk, except for As. - Abstract: Commercial marine fish, crustacean, and mollusc samples were collected from Sanmen Bay and its adjacent areas to investigate the accumulation of heavy metals in various species of marine organisms and evaluate the potential health risk for local consumers. The results indicated significant variations in metal contents among species. The highest concentrations of studied metals were found in molluscs, followed by crustaceans and fish. The first metal group of arsenic (As), cadmium, copper, and zinc were associated by their relatively high concentrations in the tissues of marine organisms, whereas chromium, mercury, and lead were identified the other group with low concentrations. Human health risk evaluation indicated that the exposure doses of most elements for coastal people were safe, except for As, which scored a high total target hazard quotient and target cancer risk value. Potential health risk of heavy metal exposure from seafood consumption should not be ignored.