Exploring Barbus Meridionalis Petenyi Heckel, 1847 as a Bioindicator of Aquatic Pollution in Miljacka River, Bosnia and Herzegovina

In recent years, fish have been widely documented as useful indicators of environmental contamination giving integrated insight into the status of their environment. In the current study water and sediment along with tissues of Barbus meridionalis from Miljacka River were analyzed to obtain results for contamination factor, pollution load index, geoaccumulation index, health risk assessment, and histopathological and microbiological observations. Levels of all analyzed heavy metals in sediment were high and above permissible limits. For fish tissue, higher levels of Cu, Ni, and Pb were obtained in the liver, Mn in the gills, while the concentrations of Cd and Cr were quite equal. Histopathological changes in B. meridionalis gills and liver tissue were identified as a consequence of health hazards and the toxic effect of pollutants. Fish population from the S2 location could cause significant adverse health effects for consumers according to HI > 1. Water pollution has shown numerous harmful effects on B. meridionalis liver and gills tissue and a significant relationship between water quality status and severity of injuries has been revealed. This study highlights that B. meridionalis is a reliable aquatic tool for environmental pollution assessment.