In total, 145 adult (<15 cm) eelpouts from various parts of the Baltic Sea were analyzed: Brunskär (Archipelago Sea) Tvärminne (Finnish Western Gulf of Finland), Bays of Kunda and Muuga (Estonian Gulf of Finland), Bay of Matsalu (Western Estonian coast), Roja (Latvian Gulf of Riga), Laboe and Schwentine river-mouth (German Kieler Förde). Concentrations of Hg were higher in muscle tissue than in liver, but for Cd and Zn the opposite was the case. The highest mean values for Hg were obtained from eelpouts from Schwentine river-mouth (Kieler Förde), for Cd from eelpouts from the Bay of Muuga, and for Zn from eelpouts from the Bay of Kunda. Statistically significant negative correlations have been calculated between the condition factor (CF) and Hg for eelpouts from Brunskär (Archipelago Sea), Tvärminne (Gulf of Finland) and Schwentine (Kieler Förde), between CF and Cd for eelpouts from Brunskär, Tvärminne, and between CF and Zn for eelpouts from Brunskär, Tvärminne and Kunda, respectively, indicating sub-lethal influences on the condition of the fishes by the metals in question.With the exception of a few liver samples from Finnish (Tvärminne) and Estonian (Muuga) costal waters the safety level for metals in fish as food in the European Union were not exceeded.