Bioaccumulation of heavy metals in flying fishes along southeast coast of India

Bioaccumulation of metals (iron, zinc, copper, lead and cadmium) in the muscles of flying fishes, Hirundichthys coromandelensis and Cypselurus spilopterus collected from the landing centres of Pondicherry and Cuddalore, Southeast coast of India was studied. Inductively Coupled Plasma Optical Emission Spectrometer (ICP-OES) was used for the assessment of present condition of the coastal ecosystem and compiling the baseline data for future monitoring, with respect to metal accumulation of different species. In the present study, tissue samples of fishes revealed that the metals have different levels of accumulation viz. Fe (7.80 ± 2.26 μg g^-1); Zn (3.30 ± 2.55 μg g^-1); Cu (0.33 ± 0.06 μg g^-1), Pb (0.24 ± 0.10 μg g^-1) and Cd (0.05 ± 0.02 μg g^-1). The concentration of heavy metals was in order of, Fe Zn Cu Pb Cd. The result shows that the metal accumulation in tissues of both the fishes indicates a similar variation between two stations. The concentration of metals was more in Cuddalore than in Pondicherry. Concentrations of toxic metals such as Pb and Cd were well below the permissible limits proposed by the World Health Organization. Cd showed the lowest concentrations in all fish samples followed by Pb.