Seasonal variation of some heavy metals in the tissues of two important Marine Fish Species Epinephelus coioides and Euryglossa orientalis from Iraqi marine waters, north west arabian gulf

摘要

Seasonal variations in the concentrations of six heavy metals (Cd, Cu,Mn, Ni, Pb and Zn) were determinedin different tissues (muscles, livers , Ovaries , Intestines and gills) of Epinephelus coioides (serranidae) andEuryglossa orientalis from Al-Amiq port within National Iraqi Waters at Northern Arabian Gulf during theperiod October 2014 and November 2015. Heavy metals in fish samples were analyzed by atomicabsorption spectrophotometry (AAS) after acid digestion. Two-way ANOVA statistics were used tocompare the data among seasons, species, and organs (level of 0.05). the bioaccumulation of the heavymetals was species-related as the accumulations of the heavy metals analysed in the tested two fishes wereof the following trend: Epinephelus coioides > Euryglossa orientalis. Accumulation of total heavy metals inEpinephelus coioides, the following order Zn > Cu > Cd > Mn > Ni > Pb is found, while that for Euryglossaorientalis, the following order: Cu > Zn > Mn > Cd > Ni > Pb is found. In the organs of Epinepheluscoioides, heavy metals Cd, Cu, and Zn recorded the higher concentrations during summer season, highconcentrations of Mn recorded during spring, and lower concentrations were recorded for Ni and Pb duringall seasons. In the organs of Euryglossa orientalis higher concentrations of heavy metals were recorded forCd during summer season, Cu during autumn season, Mn during spring season, Ni and Zn were low duringall seasons, and Zn during winter season. The levels of Cd, Ni, and Zn in this study were higher than the maximum permissible limits (FAO, and WHO) for human consumption and that of Cu, Mn, and Pb are still lower.