Аннотация:A comparative genotoxicity of marine and freshwater fish as indicators of theecological hazard of the aquatic environment of the Barents Sea basin was analyzed. We usedthe Ames Salmonella/microsomes test to study mutagenicity of various tissues and liver fat ofрolar cod, sea bass, сommon whitefish and river bass with subsequent chromatography-massspectrometry analysis of liver fat samples for the content of genotoxicants (organic pollutants).No significant excess of mutagenic activity was found in all fish samples except polar cod liverfat and sea bass liver fat. Рromutagenic action caused gene mutations of both frameshifting andbase pair substitution. Analysis of fat samples using the method of chromatography-massspectrometry confirmed the presence of persistent organic pollutants in marine fish fat. Thefindings indicate that at present the ecology of the Barents Sea basin rivers is in more favorableconditions than the ecology of this sea.