Determination and Evaluation of Heavy Metal Content of Freshwater Economic Fish in Northeast Guangdong

Yanmei Zhong, Qingmei Zheng, Chunyan Han, Rushu Wen and Hongli Zhang

Asian Agricultural Research, 2015, vol. 07, issue 01, 6

Abstract: Concentrations of lead (Pb), cadmium (Cd), chromium (Cr), copper (Cu), zinc (Zn) and manganese (Mn) were measured in various organs (such as in liver and muscle) from 9 species of freshwater economic fishes which were collected from northeast area of Guangdong Province. The concentration of metals was measured by inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectrometry (ICP-AES). Results showed that the levels of metals in hepatopancreas of the fishes were found in order of Zn>Pb>Cu>Hg>Cd, while in muscles were Zn>Cr>Pb>Mn>Cu>Cd. In general, the metals concentrations were significantly higher in liver samples than that in muscle samples. Based on the “pollution index of single factor”, the fishes, to one degree or another, were polluted by Pb, Cd, Cr, Cu and Zn, and pollution levels were mostly followed by Pb>Cd>Cr>Cu>Zn. The indexes of Pb and Cd tested in hepatopancreas of the fishes were in a majority exceeded the national safety criteria for food in China. What’s more, it was found that the contents of the heavy metals in fishes did not vary with the trophic level which they belong to. In summary, the fishes were polluted by Pb, Cd, Cr, Cu and Zn to some extent, which indicated that hidden danger of heavy metals pollution was present in ecological environment or safety in fishery production in the area.

Keywords: Agribusiness (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2015
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://ageconsearch.umn.edu/record/200499/files/14.PDF (application/pdf)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ags:asagre:200499

DOI: 10.22004/ag.econ.200499

Access Statistics for this article

More articles in Asian Agricultural Research from USA-China Science and Culture Media Corporation
Bibliographic data for series maintained by AgEcon Search ().