Occurrence of arsenic in plaice (Pleuronectes platessa), nature of organo-arsenic compound present and its excretion by man.

The arsenic content in 255 samples of plaice (Pleuronectes platessa) varied between 3 and 166 mg/kg. About 65% of the samples had an arsenic content above 10 mg/kg. High (low) arsenic concentration in the fillet corresponds with a high (low) concentration in milt or roe. An excretion experiment with eight human volunteers showed that after the consumption of plaice, 69-85% of the ingested arsenic was excreted in the urine within five days. The organo-arsenic compound present in plaice was isolated by means of extraction, ion-exchange and thin-layer chromatography. Field desorption mass spectrometry of the isolate showed that arsenic was present as arsenobetaine, (CH3)3AsCH2C00-.