{"title":"Bioaccumulation of priority trace metals in edible muscles of West African lungfish (Protopterus annectens Owen, 1839) from Nyabarongo River, Rwanda","authors":"Timothy Omara","doi":"10.1080/23311843.2020.1779557","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"Abstract Heavy metal pollution and accumulation in aquatic ecosystems present serious threats to sustainability. In the current study, the heavy metal content of water and edible muscles of a piscivorous fish (Protopterus annectens) as well as bioaccumulation of the heavy metals in fish tissues were evaluated. Samples of water (n = 6) and fish (n = 6) were taken from Kirinda bridge and Ruliba station on Nyabarongo river and analyzed by UV spectroscopy and atomic absorption spectrometry, respectively. The heavy metal concentrations in water were: iron (0.63 ± 0.02 and 1.61 ± 0.03 mg/kg), manganese (0.53 ± 0.002 mg/kg at Ruliba station), chromium (0.06 ± 0.002 mg/kg at Kirinda bridge), cadmium (0.106 ± 0.002 mg/kg at Ruliba station) and lead (0.75 ± 0.02 and 0.051 ± 0.01 mg/kg). Edible muscles of Protopterus annectens contained 336.0 ± 0.70, 302.6 ± 1.22, 6.4 ± 0.26, 44.7 ± 0.20, 138.2 ± 0.17 and 302.4 ± 1.50 mg/kg of iron, manganese, copper, zinc, chromium and lead at Kirinda bridge and 272.8 ± 0.36, 292.2 ± 0.25, 8.8 ± 0.36, 135.2 ± 0.15, 148.0 ± 0.21 and 432. 0 ± 0.50 mg/kg of iron, manganese, copper, zinc, chromium and lead, respectively, at Ruliba station. Most of the heavy metal contents were above the recommended levels. Bioaccumulation factors recorded in Protopterus annectens ranged from 403.2 to 15,130 L/kg, implying that consumption of this fish could pose deleterious health risks. The study suggested that P. annectens could be used as a sentinel organism for biomonitoring of aquatic ecosystems.","PeriodicalId":45615,"journal":{"name":"Cogent Environmental Science","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0000,"publicationDate":"2020-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1080/23311843.2020.1779557","citationCount":"17","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Cogent Environmental Science","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1080/23311843.2020.1779557","RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":null,"ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q2","JCRName":"Environmental Science","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 17
Abstract
Abstract Heavy metal pollution and accumulation in aquatic ecosystems present serious threats to sustainability. In the current study, the heavy metal content of water and edible muscles of a piscivorous fish (Protopterus annectens) as well as bioaccumulation of the heavy metals in fish tissues were evaluated. Samples of water (n = 6) and fish (n = 6) were taken from Kirinda bridge and Ruliba station on Nyabarongo river and analyzed by UV spectroscopy and atomic absorption spectrometry, respectively. The heavy metal concentrations in water were: iron (0.63 ± 0.02 and 1.61 ± 0.03 mg/kg), manganese (0.53 ± 0.002 mg/kg at Ruliba station), chromium (0.06 ± 0.002 mg/kg at Kirinda bridge), cadmium (0.106 ± 0.002 mg/kg at Ruliba station) and lead (0.75 ± 0.02 and 0.051 ± 0.01 mg/kg). Edible muscles of Protopterus annectens contained 336.0 ± 0.70, 302.6 ± 1.22, 6.4 ± 0.26, 44.7 ± 0.20, 138.2 ± 0.17 and 302.4 ± 1.50 mg/kg of iron, manganese, copper, zinc, chromium and lead at Kirinda bridge and 272.8 ± 0.36, 292.2 ± 0.25, 8.8 ± 0.36, 135.2 ± 0.15, 148.0 ± 0.21 and 432. 0 ± 0.50 mg/kg of iron, manganese, copper, zinc, chromium and lead, respectively, at Ruliba station. Most of the heavy metal contents were above the recommended levels. Bioaccumulation factors recorded in Protopterus annectens ranged from 403.2 to 15,130 L/kg, implying that consumption of this fish could pose deleterious health risks. The study suggested that P. annectens could be used as a sentinel organism for biomonitoring of aquatic ecosystems.