Organic mercury determination in fish samples using an automatic mercury analyser

An analytical method for simple and rapid determination of organic mercury in fish samples is described, including toluene extraction as a separation technique and Hg measurement by the automatic mercury analyser AMA 254. In order to assess the quality control of analytical results the method has been applied to suitable NRCC reference materials (dogfish muscle and liver, lobster hepatopancreas). Good recovery and reproducibility compared with existing procedures have been achieved; routine analyses of organic mercury content in fish samples can be performed easily as the time required for ten determinations is less than three hours.