The Miranda River basin spreads over about 40.000 km² and consists of one of the central systems acting in the Pantanal flooding regime in the upper Paraguay River basin. The middle Miranda River has great socioeconomic importance as a source of fishery resources highly exploited by riverine communities, in addition to sustaining very significant fishing tourism in southern Pantanal. The present study investigated the levels of As, Ag, Al, Ba, Cd, Cr, Cu, Fe, Hg, Mn, Pb, Se, and Zn in muscle samples of six fish species (Pygocentrus nattereri, Serrasalmus marginatus, Mylossoma duriventre, Leporinus friderici, Pimelodus argenteus, and P. pantaneiro) highly consumed by local riverine and non-resident people in a highly exploited stretch of middle Miranda River. Interspecific significant differences were detected for Ba, Fe, Mn, and Zn levels. However, these seem unrelated to species' feeding habits once pairwise comparison detected significant differences in element levels between species with similar diets. Significant correlations between body size and concentrations were found for Ba in P. nattereri (moderate positive correlation), and for Mn in M. duriventre (weak positive correlation) and P. argenteus (moderate negative correlation). Levels exceeding tolerable daily intake (TDI) were found for Pb maximum concentrations in P. nattereri, M. duriventre, L. friderici, P. argenteus, and P. pantaneiro, and for Cd maximum concentration in P. argenteus. Adopting a Pb monitoring program in biotic and abiotic compartments in Miranda River is strongly recommended.