Total mercury (THg) in dorsal muscle of Prionace glauca from Ilo, Peru: dataset and statistical analyses

Dataset and reproducible R analysis code accompanying the manuscript "Baseline mercury concentrations and dietary risk assessment in blue shark (Prionace glauca) from Ilo, southern Peru" (submitted as a Baseline article to Marine Pollution Bulletin). The dataset contains individual total mercury (THg) measurements in dorsal muscle tissue of 12 blue shark (Prionace glauca) specimens — six males and six females, total length 167–230 cm — landed at the Artisanal Fishing Port (DPA) of Ilo, Moquegua Region, southern Peru, on 12 October 2021. THg was quantified by cold-vapour atomic absorption spectrometry (CV-AAS) following NOM-117-SSA1-1994 at an ISO/IEC 17025-accredited laboratory (CERPER S.A., corrected Test Report No. 2-04036/21). The deposit also includes a reproducible R script that performs descriptive statistics, hypothesis tests, linear regression, non-carcinogenic dietary-risk assessment (Target Hazard Quotient and Estimated Weekly Intake relative to the JECFA methylmercury Provisional Tolerable Weekly Intake), and generation of the manuscript figures. Changes in v3: dietary risk assessment revised using the Peruvian per-capita direct human consumption of fishery products for 2021 (40 g/day fresh; 70 g/day total; Ministerio de la Producción del Perú, 2025); the methylmercury PTWI (1.6 µg/kg bw/week) is applied uniformly to all population groups; international comparison values verified against primary sources. Builds on v2 corrections (specimen ID 6 = 0.216 mg/kg; sex assignments corrected; analytical report No. 2-04036/21). See README.md and CHANGELOG.md for full details.