Accumulation Of Metallic Elements In Commercial Fish Species Of Setiu Coastal Waters, Terengganu As Pollution Bioindicator

Abstract

The pollution from Metallic Elements (MEs) becoming one of the major concern in assessing potential human risk on food consumption. Wild commercial fish exposed to the natural environment are the main source of exposure to human. Thus, this study was conducted to determine the concentration of MEs in selected commercial fish of Setiu coastal water and to study the correlation of the metals with the fish sizes. Ten types of MEs including chromium (Cr), manganese (Mn), copper (Cu), zinc (Zn), iron (Fe), nickel (Ni), cadmium (Cd), arsenic (As), lead (Pb) and mercury (Hg) were detected in both the liver and muscle of five commercial species collected namely Auxis sp., Megalaspis cordyla, Rastrelliger sp, Selaroides sp. and Nemipterus sp. Fishes were dissected for muscle and liver and digested using Teflon Bomb digestion method. The concentration of MEs in the organ were detected using the Inductive Coupled Plasma – Mass Spectrophometer. The data obtained show selected MEs were higher in the liver than the muscle except for Cr for all fish species collected. Overall concentration of all fish species shows that the concentration of Fe>Zn>As>Cu>Cd>Mn>Cr>Hg>Ni>Pb in the liver and the concentration of Fe>As>Zn>Cr>Cu>Mn>Ni>Hg>Pb>Cd in the muscle. The size of fish and the trophic level does not influence the MEs concentration in the fish. The concentration of MEs in the liver can safely say that does not affect the concentration of MEs in the muscle means that the fish diet is not the main source of metal content for muscle.