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Journal of Environmental BiologypISSN: 0254-8704 ; eISSN: 2394-0379 ; CODEN: JEBIDP |
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Abstract - Issue Sep 2010, 31 (5) BackHeavy
metals in fish species from lotic freshwater
ecosystem at ????? 1National Bureau of Fish Genetic 2Applied Biology Department, 3Department of Fisheries
and Aquaculture, 4Fisheries and Hydrobiology Research Unit, Department of Zoology, (Received: Abstract: A study was conducted between March
2006 and February 2007 to assess the concentration of Fe, Zn, Cu, Mn, Pb, and Cr in the gills and
muscles of six fish species (Chrysichthys nigrodigitatus, Clarias anguillaris, Tillapia zillii, Mormyrus rume rume, Mormyrus
macrophthalmus and Mormyrus
tapirus) from lotic
freshwater ecosystem at Afikpo South- East Nigeria
using Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometer. In all the fish species studied the
concentration of metals in the gills was significantly higher than that of the
muscles (p<0.05). While the highest concentration (mg l-1) of Fe
(702.20?0.04), Zn (34.40?0.02), Cu (2.10?0.01), Mn
(4.91?0.08) Pb (0.50?0.02) and Cr (1.12?0.07) were
recorded in the gills of C. nigrodigitatus, that in
the muscles were recorded in T. zillii (443.20?0.08,
23.30?0.06, 1.33?0.06, 3.09?0.02, 0.31?0.01 and 0.66?0.04 for Fe, Zn, Cu, Mn, Pb and Cr respectively). The
lowest concentration of all the heavy metals in the gills was recorded in M. tapirus (309.00?0.07, 16.45?0.03, 0.92?0.04, 2.15?0.04,
0.21?0.01 and 0.50?0.06 mg l-1 for Fe, Zn, Cu Mn,
Pb and Cr respectively) while the lowest in the
muscles was recorded in C. anguillaris [Fe
(186.00?0.07), Zn (14.20?0.08), Cu (0.56?0.03), Mn
(1.30?0.02), Pb (0.10?0.01) and Cr (0.28?0.04)]. The
order of heavy metals concentrations in both the gills and muscles was
Fe>Zn>Mn>Cu>Cr>Pb.
While the concentration of Zn, Cu and Pb? both in the muscles and gills of all the six
fish species studied were within the WHO and FEPA prescribed limits, that of
Fe(except in the muscles), Mn and Cr were above the
prescribed limits thus indicating contamination of the fish species by these
metals. Fe has the highest bio-concentration factor (BCF) in both tissues while
the least was Cu. Periodic monitoring of these metals in both fishes and river
to ensure safety is advocated. Key
words: Heavy metals, Fish, Afikpo, ??????? PDF of full length paper
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