Although the present mean concentrations of lead in various tissues and organs of the investigated coastal Baltic fishes are fairly low (0.05–1.04 mg kg–1 dwt in muscle tissue, 0.05–1.29 mg kg–1 dwt in liver, 0.05–0.95 mg kg–1 dwt in gonads), i.e. lower than in the 1970s, they still indicate a state of pollution in the Baltic Sea. This justifies the monitoring of a selection of species, thus reflecting the contamination of their environment. In the sampling areas chosen for the study, fishes from the coastal waters of both sides of the Gulf of Finland and at the western Estonian coast appeared to be more contaminated with lead than their counterparts from the Finnish Archipelago Sea, the Gulf of Riga, and the Kiel Fjord. For flounder, however, such pattern was not so obvious. The highest concentrations of lead were analysed from perch (muscle 1.04 and liver 1.29 mg kg–1 dwt) from the isolated coastal freshwater reservoir at Pargas-Parainen. Additionally, noteworthy concentrations of lead were calculated for the liver (0.97 mg kg–1 dwt) of eelpout from Muuga and the gonads (0.95 mg kg–1 dwt) of eelpout from Tvärminne, the kidneys (0.58 mg kg–1 dwt) and bile (1.83 mg kg–1 dwt) of flounder from the Kiel Fjord, and the bile (1.54 mg kg–1 dwt) of flounder from the Åland Islands. Nevertheless, all investigated fishes were safe for human consumption.
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