Effects of mine tailing and mixed contamination on metals, trace elements accumulation and histopathology of the chub (Squalius cephalus) tissues: Evidence from three differently contaminated sites in Serbia

Mining waste as a cause of increased bioaccumulation of highly toxic metals in liver and gills of Vardar chub (Squalius vardarensis Karaman, 1928)

“…3a). In contrast to our findings, Rašković et al (2018) found increased Ba bioaccumulation in the liver and gills of chub (S. cephalus) after an accident at an abandoned mining site. However, gill Ba concentrations were previously shown to exhibit much higher concentrations in smaller than in bigger fish in the study on European chub (S. cephalus) from the Sutla River, and also did not reflect the level of exposure in the water (Dragun et al, 2016).…”

“…Higher Ca concentrations in the gills compared to the liver are consistent with involvement of gills, as ion-transporting tissue, in processes of Ca homeostasis (Takei and Loretz, 2006), whereas Sr, due to similar chemical properties to Ca, often follows Ca bioaccumulation trends, as previously described in the case of European chub gills (Dragun et al, 2016). Total Sr concentrations in the gills of chub (S. cephalus) were previously reported to be around 100-450 times higher than in the liver (Sunjog et al, 2016;Rašković et al, 2018). Higher bioaccumulation of Pb in the gills than in the liver of freshwater fish Colisa fasciatus (Kumar and Mathur, 1991) and of grass carps (C. idellus) (Liu et al, 2012) was previously reported, whereas in our study the differences in Pb concentrations between two organs were rather small (Table 3).…”

“…Although there were significant differences in concentrations of all studied elements between organs of Vardar chub either in just one or in both seasons (Table 3), only few elements showed really high tendency for bioaccumulation in the liver and those were Cu with 43-50 times higher cytosolic concentrations in the liver, then Mo and V, with 7-11 times higher cytosolic concentrations in the liver, and finally Co and Mn, with 3.5-5 times higher cytosolic concentrations in the liver than in the gills, depending on the metal and the season. Much higher total concentrations in chub (S. cephalus) liver than in gills, approximately 10-40 times, were already reported for Cu (Sunjog et al, 2016;Rašković et al, 2018), and approximately 2-20 times for Mo (Sunjog et al, 2016). Similar differences, with almost ten times higher Cu concentrations in the liver than in the gills, were also observed in the grass carp (C. idellus) (Liu et al, 2012).…”

Age and diet-specific trace element accumulation patterns in different tissues of chub (Squalius cephalus): Juveniles are useful bioindicators of recent pollution

“…Two sources of heavy metals are in water ecosystems: the natural geological background and anthropogenic activities, such as industrial and agricultural emissions and atmospheric deposition (MacDonald et al, 2000;Lenhardt et al, 2009). Since trace elements can be accumulated in living organisms in different concentrations and their bioavailability is not equal, systematic monitoring of the concentrations of pollutants in organisms to predict environmental risks should be given priority (Nakata et al, 2005;Zhou et al, 2008;Rašković et al, 2018).…”

Proposed Environmental Risk Management Elements in a Carpathian Valley Basin, within the Roşia Montană European Historical Mining Area

“…During the Middle Ages, the Renaissance, and even the modern era, the mining impact on the environment continued [9,10]. of 15 Commonly, mining activities have a negative impact on the environment in general [11,12] and on aquatic ecosystems in particular [13][14][15][16][17]. The effects of this negative impact can be manifested throughout the whole ore extraction and processing cycle [18,19].…”