Review: Bioaccumulation of heavy metals in fish and other aquatic organisms from Karachi Coast, Pakistan

Abstract

Abstract. Yousif RA, Choudhary MI, Ahmed S, Ahmed Q. 2020. Review: Bioaccumulation of heavy metals in fish and other aquatic organisms from Karachi Coast, Pakistan. Nusantara Bioscience 13: 74-85. Heavy metals are being utilized in a variety of ways in industries, agriculture, food processing and household in many forms. Metals are unique environmental and industrial pollutants in the sense that they are neither created nor destroyed by human beings but are only transported and transformed into various products. The present study deals with the findings of various investigators on the effect of heavy metals on fish and other aquatic organisms on Karachi coasts of Pakistan. The polluted areas (Rivers and Karachi coasts) receiving effluents from industrial, agricultural, municipal and domestic wastes. The order of abundance of the metals were as fellow; Fe > Zn > Cu > Mn > Cd > Pb > Cr > Ni > Hg > As. Most studies showed that essential metals (Fe, Zn, Cu, and Mn) in aquatic organisms are much high, but the quantities of non-essential metals are found to be less. This review has shown that fish and other aquatic organisms are used as bio-monitoring species in heavy metal pollution. It is suggested that such investigations should be continuous in terms of both human health and determination of metal pollution in aquatic environment.

Assessment of Fish Quality Based on the Content of Heavy Metals

“…Fidan et al [ 68 ] examined the contents of heavy metals in crucian carp muscles and noted the same order as in the current study. Yousif et al [ 69 ], based on the research of other investigators, observed that the elements were arranged in the following order: Fe > Zn > Cu > Mn. The findings included fish and other aquatic organisms from polluted areas (rivers and the Karachi Coast, Pakistan).…”

Heavy metals concentration patterns in the Atlantic horse meckrel (Trachurus trachurus), the Round sardinella (Sardinella aurita) and the Common panadora (Pagellus erythrinus) from northwestern Egyptian coasts

“…The study concluded that fish from the northwestern coast of Egypt are relatively healthier than fish from other coasts on the Mediterranean either from the European or Arabian side due to lower heavy metal levels in their flesh, and Atlantic horse mackerel could promote it as a biomonitor for heavy metal pollution. Wong, 2000;Erdoğrul and Erbilir, 2007;Yousif et al, 2021). Normally heavy metals are present in water in low concentrations, but extensive anthropogenic activities lead to increase levels of metals in water to become toxic concentrations that are capable to accumulate causing damage to ecological system under certain environmental conditions.…”

Fish and the Thyroid: A Janus Bifrons Relationship Caused by Pollutants and the Omega-3 Polyunsaturated Fatty Acids

“…Fish and seafood contain many contaminants, since anthropic activities (e.g., agriculture, industry, mining) increase their concentration in the aquatic ecosystem ( 17 , 41 – 43 ). Clearly, because of biomagnification, pollutants are mostly concentrated in the longer-living and larger predatory fish species such as swordfish, tuna, and shark.…”