Comparative assessment of wellbeing of Chrysichthys filamentosus, Kribia nana and Pegusa lascaris from Tomaro, Ajegunle and Badagry Creeks in Lagos, Nigeria

Abstract

An investigation was made from April to September 2018 to detect some metals (cadmium, chromium, copper, iron, lead and zinc) in the fishes like Kribia nana, Chrysichthys filamentosus and Pegusa lascaris, as well as in water and sediment from three creeks i.e. Badagry (Station 1), Tomaro (Station 2) and Ajegunle (Station 3) in Lagos, Nigeria. Samples were collected and analyzed according to standard methods. Most of the water quality parameters are within standard recommended limits. Iron content in C. filamentosus (11.57±2.50mg/kg) from station 3 was higher (p<0.05) than iron content from station 2 (6.54±2.88mg/kg), while iron content in K. nana (8.34±1.10mg/kg) from station 3 was higher (p<0.05) than that from station 1 (6.12±1.04mg/kg) and station 2 (3.62±1.14mg/kg) respectively. Zinc (5.54±1.12mg/kg) recorded from station 3 was significantly (p<0.05) higher than that from station 2 (2.45±0.96mg/kg) and station 1 (3.84±0.86mg/kg). Iron content in all the fishes, cadmium in C. filamentosus and lead, chromium, copper in K. nana in stations 1 and 3 exceeded permissible limits. Condition factor (K) of most fish species was greater than 1. The Hazardous Index (HI) content in C. filamentosus from the three creeks and K. nana from stations 1 and 3 was above 1. Ecological risk factor(Er), enrichment factors (EF) and Index of geo-accumulation indicated moderate contamination of the sediment with cadmium. In conclusion, the three creeks are moderately polluted with metals but consumption of large quantity of the fish species could have high health risk. Hence, discharge of untreated metals into the water should be precluded.