Around 61 percent of fish taken from three fish farms in Fandong village, Shaoguan city of Guangdong province, were found to have contained lead exceeding the maximum limit of the national standard, China News Service reported on Thursday citing a recent survey.

The survey, conducted by Zhuang Ping, a researcher with the soil ecology research team of the South China Botanical Garden, also found that 28 percent of the grass carp and crucian samples contained cadmium exceeding the maximum limit of the national standard.

The fish farms are located in the Dabaoshan mining area in Shaoguan, reported Southern Metropolitan Daily.

Local people were still eating the fish in the three fish farms, and some of the fish were sold at market.

The water and sludge at the fish farms were found to contain seriously excessive heavy metals.