Selected Heavy Metals in Penaeus vannamei (White Prawn) in Aquaculture Pond near Likas Lagoon, Sabah, Malaysia

Abstract

The issue of heavy metal toxicity has received considerable attention in aquaculture field. Most studies of heavy metal in aquaculture have only focused on fish species and molluscs but not prawn. Thus, the key research objective of this study is to identify and study selected heavy metals in Penaeus vannamei in the study area. In this study, the mature prawns (5 months old) were collected and 1g of sample is digested using H 2 SO 4 and HNO 3 for 2 hours and filtered. The heavy metal concentration in prawn samples is determined using ICP-OES. The major heavy metals in the prawn head and shell are dominated by Fe>Cu>Zn>Cr>Mn>Ni while in prawn flesh is Fe>Zn>Cu>Cr>As>Ni>Mn. In this study, the highest heavy metals toxicity are prawn head> prawn shell> prawn flesh. In this study, it was found that most of the heavy metals are accumulated in the head of prawn whereas the least is in the shell of prawn.