Appraisal of heavy metal levels in some marine organisms gathered from the Vellar and Uppanar estuaries Southeast Coast of Indian Ocean

Abstract

Three marine organisms Mugil cephalus, Portunus pelagicus and Penaeus indicus were gathered from the Vellar and Uppanar estuaries, Southeast Coast of India. Their muscle tissues, gills, gonads, and skin were investigated for the presence of some trace elements, by Inductively Coupled Plasma-Optical Emission Spectrometry. The results showed that the Aluminum concentration level was observed to be greatest in all of the examined marine organisms followed by Zn, Cu, Pb and Cd. The highest level of Aluminum observed in skin, gonad and gill of mullet fish followed by crab gonad and shrimp muscle respectively. Vellar estuarine organisms showed significantly lower concentrations of heavy metals compared to organisms obtained from the Uppanar estuary. The minimum level of Cadmium was observed in all the tissues of the studied marine organisms. None of the trace metals investigated in Vellar and Uppanar estuaries was over the extreme allowable level endorsed by CODEX.