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Description
The most common mussel species in Rio de Janeiro State is Perna perna. It is an edible Mylilidae that has been cultivated in many places at Brazilian coast from Espirito Santo to Rio Grande do Sul States. Ten kilograms of flesh of mussels with a size of 5 to 8 cm were collected annually in the town of Arraial do Cabo, Rio de Janeiro State (23o S and 42o W) from 2002 to 2009. These organisms are distributed on rocky shores from the intertidal zone to 5 meters deep. The results of the analyses are in a database at the Admiral Paulo Moreira Marine Research Institute. The concentration of Cs 137 in the mussels was very low varying from 0,003 to 0,21 Bq.kg-1. The concentration of Sr 90 was also very low, varying from 0,006 to 0,03 Bq.kg-1. The results show that the radionuclides found in mussel of Arraial do Cabo are in very low concentrations and do not cause any harm to the health of the local human population. The only source known of these radionuclides is from the nuclear atmospheric tests made in the past.
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This is the first study on artificial radionuclides in mussels of Arraial do Cabo at Rio de Janeiro State, Brazil. The concentrations are very low and do not represent any harm for the local human population.
