Levels of Nickel, Lead and Cadmium Heavy Metals in Muscle Tissues of Acanthopagrus cuvieri in Asaluyeh Port during Winter and Spring Seasons

The present research was carried out with the aim of measuring the levels of the heavy metals nickel, lead and cadmium in the muscle tissues of the Acanthopagrus cuvieris in Asaluyeh port in Bushehr Province.

Twenty Acanthopagrus cuvieri with an average weight of 1056.66±10.12 and 1014.30±19.68 gr were hunted in the winter and spring of 2020, respectively. After transferring the samples to the laboratory, their Biometrics operations were performed. Then the samples were chemically digested with nitric acid and at the end, the number of heavy metals was measured with an atomic absorption spectrophotometer (model: PG AA 500).

The results of measuring the concentrations of the heavy metals in the muscle tissues of the Acanthopagrus cuvieri showed that the mean levels of nickel, lead and cadmium were 36.4±0.2, 85.4±0.4 and 58.7±0.1 µg/kg dry weight during winter, respectively. In spring, these amounts were 12.8±0.4, 45.3±0.5 and 48.2±0.3 µg/kg dry weight, respectively. There was a significant difference between winter and spring in this regard (P<0.05).

The levels of heavy metals in muscle tissues of Acanthopagrus Cuvieri in Asaluyeh port were lower than the international WHO, FAO, NHMRC, and UK (MAFF) standards and therefore these concentrations pose no threat to consumers.