ASSESSING PB, NI AND ZN ACCUMULATION IN THE TISSUES OF LIZA AURATA IN THE SOUTH CASPIAN SEA

The liver, kidney, gill, ovary and muscle tissues of the caught Liza aurata have been. sampled in spring 2002 in the southern Caspian Sea to assess their contamination with Pb, Ni and Zn using atomic absorption. spectrophotometer method. We found the highest concentration of lead in the liver tissue (17.51 mg/kg), followed by gill (13.95 mg/kg), kidney (5.03 mg/kg) and ovary (4.91 mg/kg). The lowest concentration of lead was seen in muscle tissue (3.01 mg/kg) of Liza aurata. The highest accumulation of Ni anq Zn were detected in ovary followed by liver, gill and kidney of the fish with a concentration of 6.23 6.14,5.71, and 2.98 mg/kg for Nickel and 647.28, 159.85, 75.71 and.65.42 mg/kg for Zinc. We observed the lowest concentration of Nickel (2.49 mg/kg) and Zinc (20.14mkg) in the muscle tissue and also determined the highest contamination of the fish with these chemicals to be occurring in the southwest followed by south center and southeast Caspian Sea.