Bioaccumulation of Heavy Metals in Fish, Squids and Crustaceans from the Red Sea, Jeddah Coast, Saudi Arabia

Abstract

Concentration of Cadmium, Copper, Lead, Zinc and Mercury were determined in the muscles, gills and liver of ten fish species ( Epinephelus areolatus , Epinephelus radiates , Anthias squamipinnis , Plectorhinchus chaetodonoides , Snubnose emperor , Dicentrarchus labrax , Acanthopagrus bifasciatus , lutjanus kasmira , lutjanus ehrenbergii and Acanthurus gahhm ) as well as three specimens of crustaceans ( Metapenaeus dalli , Panulirus penicillatus and Portunus petagicus ) and two Specimens of squids ( Parateuthis tunicate and Chtenopteryx sicula ) collected from Jeddah coastal water during 2014. The obtained results declared that, the average concentrations of heavy metals were as follows: Cd (0.098, 0.20, 0.106), Cu (0.358, 0.327, 1.536), Pb (0.3, 0.257, 0.196), Zn (3.00, 7.390, 4.999) μg/g wet weight in the muscle, gills and liver, respectively. While, the concentration of Hg was invariably undetectable in all samples of different organs of the collected fish species. The average concentration of Cd, Cu, Pb, Zn and Hg in the soft part of the investigated crustaceans ( Metapenaeus dalli , Panulirus penicillatus and Portunus petagicus ) and squids (Parateuthis tunicate and Chtenopteryx sicula ) were relatively higher compared with the muscle tissues in the examined fish species. The results of bioconcentration factor (BCFs) indicated that among examined metals Zn was the most readily absorbed by fish and the highest BAFs for examined fish species were determined in gill of Snubnose emperor .