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Bioaccumulation of Mercury in Fish Species from Different Trophic Level 



Author(s)

Mohammad Shoeb, Md. Amjad Hossain, Md. Golam Kibria, Tonima Mustafa and Nilufar Nahar

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DOI:10.17265/2159-5828/2017.07.005

Department of Chemistry, University of Dhaka, Dhaka 1000, Bangladesh

Mercury (Hg) is an environmental pollutant, and can bioaccumulate and biomagnify in the food web. Twenty four fish samples of different tropic level i.e., Herbivore, Omnivore and Carnivore were collected from two contaminated rivers, the Megna and the Buriganga which surround the Dhaka division for the assessment of toxic Hg. Fourteen samples were found to contain Hg in the range of 0.01-0.09 mg/kg. The highest Hg (0.09 mg/kg) was found in the Carnivore, Bele (Glossogobius giuris). However, all fish species had lower amount of Hg than the maximum Hg limit (0.5 mg/kg for fish) set by World Health Organization (WHO). Among all the fish species, the order of bioaccumulation was carnivore > omnivore > herbivore. Kajoli (Ailia coila), Shing (Heteropnuestes fossilis), Rui (Labeo rohita), Chewa (Tryauchen vagine), Rita (Rita rita), Hilsha (Tenualosa ilisha), Small Puti (Puntius sophore), Bacha (Eutropiichthys vacha) and Chingri (small prawn) were not found to contain any Hg which indicated that fish species from these rivers are safe for human consumption.

Bioaccumulation, biomagnification, chemical contaminant, food chain and Atomic Absorption Spectroscopy (AAS).