Heavy metal contamination in Pangas Catfish of farm ponds aquaculture in different locations in Bangladesh: A risk assessment study

The Pangas Catfish is one of the most consumed farmed fish and is the most popular fish for the poor and middle-class population in Bangladesh. Due to the high demand for Pangas catfish, different artificial feeds and medicines are required for quick production. There might be a high possibility of any contamination if improper dosing of those substances is followed, which results in heavy metal incorporation with the food cycle of fish and contamination of the farmed fish. Anthropogenic sources contaminate the surface water and also some regions' groundwater contains a high value of trace elements which contaminates farmed fish. Heavy metals from different sources accumulate in farm ponds and mix with water and sediment soils as the heavy metals nature of easy dilution in water and precipitate in sediment. This study assessed heavy metals contamination in Pangas catfish using atomic absorption spectrophotometry (AAS) obtained as Cr 3.74 ± 1.04 mg/kg (Mean±SD) in Jashore region, Copper (Cu) 45.22±15.44 mg/kg in Cumilla region, Arsenic (As) 11.14 ± 1.12 mg/kg in Jashore region, Lead (Pb) 2.22± 1.04 mg/kg in Cumilla region, Cadmium (Cd) 13.51 ± 9.33 mg/kg in BAU area ponds. Regarding human health risk assessment, the obtained ranking of target hazard quotient (THQ) for all heavy metals was as follows: Cu<As<Cd<Cr< Pb in the farm ponds of Pangas catfish, whereas the carcinogenic risk (CR) values of As and Cr identified in Jessore region farm ponds were 4.8 × 10⁻² and 5.35× 10⁻³, both were found to exceed the USEPA regulated threshold limit (1 × 10⁻⁴ -1 × 10⁻⁶). The correlation and principal component Analysis (PCA) were conducted to identify the source of heavy metals in Pangas catfish from different locations.