Thermodynamic Study of the Extraction of Inorganic Mercury Compounds in Fish Species of the International Anzali Wetland,Iran

Inorganic mercury concentration was measured in the muscle tissues of four types of fish in the aquatic international Anzali Wetland ecosystem in Guilan. In the same ecosystem, the northern pike is able to concentrate inorganic mercury in its body more than other fish. In each species, a fish with the highest amount of inorganic mercury was selected for determination of thermodynamic parameters of inorganic mercury extraction using calculation of the equilibrium constant and fitting of ln K_c versus inverse temperature at the atmospheric pressure. The origins of thermodynamic parameters were discussed. The extraction processes were done in the range of temperatures from 331.15 to 365.15 K and at atmospheric pressure. Results show that the extraction of mercury compounds from SH groups of sulfhydryl proteins in fish muscle tissue is an endothermic process with a positive value for entropy and Gibbs free energy changes at room temperature.