Heavy metals analysis in some freshwater and marine fish species from markets of Lahore, Pakistan

Abstract

Abstract. Muscle portion of 72 fish samples of eight selected species, four from marine (Pampus Chinensis, Otolithes ruber, Trachipteridae and Oncorhynchus tshawytscha) and four from fresh water (Labeo rohita, Catla catla, Rita rita and Walago atu) fishes were collected from three superstores in Lahore, Pakistan. The prepared fish samples were analyzed for determination of Chromium (Cr), Lead (Pb) and Cadmium (Cd) concentrations by using the inductively coupled plasma (PerkinElmer, Model: Optima 7000DV ICP-OES). It was found that Cd (0.294±0.001 mg/kg) concentration was the highest in Labeo rohita collected from Metro Superstore while the lowest level (0.023±0.000 mg/kg) was in the Oncorhynchus tshawytscha of the same superstore. Species wise concentration of Cd varies significantly. Concentration of Cr (0.172±0.001mg/kg) was the highest in Oncorhynchus tshawytscha collected from Main Fish Market of Lahore while the lowest level (0.002±0.001mg/kg) was in Labeo rohita collected from Hyperstar superstore. Concentration of Pb (0.057±0.000mg/kg) was the highest in Oncorhynchus tshawytscha collected from Metro Superstore while the lowest (0.012±0.001mg/kg) in Otolithes ruber of the same superstore. Species wise concentration of Pb varies non-significantly. Origin wise t-test shows that: a) Cd concentrations vary significantly, while Cr and Pb concentrations vary non-significantly when marine and fresh water species were compared. b) The range of Pb (0.011-0.057 mg/kg) and Cr (0.002-0.172 mg/kg) was within limits and of Cd (0.023-0.297 mg/kg) was higher than the WHO international standards (0.123 mg/kg for Pb, 0.050 mg/kg for Cd and 0.1 mg/kg for Cr) in most of the fish species of main Fish Market Lahore, Hyperstar and Metro store.

Keywords

• freshwater and marine fish
• Pb
• Cd
• Cr
• Lahore
• commercial markets