Baseline concentration of ²¹⁰Po in Kuwait's commercial fish species

This baseline study highlights the ²¹⁰Po variation in whole fishes with different feeding habits. Whole-body ²¹⁰Po concentrations were determined in ten important commercial fish species found in the northern Arabian Gulf to serve as baseline data. Primarily, ²¹⁰Po is absorbed from water, concentrated by phytoplankton and microzooplankton, and then transferred to the next trophic level along the marine food chain. The lowest concentration of ²¹⁰Po was measured in larger carnivorous fishes like hamoor (0.089Bqkg ^-1), while the highest was found in the fishes that feed on algae, zooplanktons and detritus, like battan (3.30Bqkg ^-1). The baseline data can be used to understand both the trophic transfer of ²¹⁰Po in the marine food chain and the ²¹⁰Po concentration factors in fish from the Arabian Gulf.