Bioaccumulation of Metals in Fishes’ Scales – A Reliable Non-Lethal Assessor of Food Security

The aim of present study was to study bioaccumulation potential of selected metals (chromium (Cr), cadmium (Cd), nickel (Ni), copper (Cu), manganese (Mn), mercury (Hg), lead (Pb), zinc (Zn) and iron (Fe) in fish scales. A study was conducted on total 216 fish specimens, comprised of 3 fish species (Catla catla (thaila), Labeo rohita (rohu) and Cirrhinus mrigala (mori)) from river Ravi during two flow seasons at four sampling locations including upstream Lahore Siphon = A, Shahdera = B, Sunder=C and downstream Balloki headworks = D. All the metal contents in fish scales were highly significantly different (P 0.001) among sampling locations and flow seasons. Location-wise metal accumulation pattern was C D B A. The highest concentrations (μg/g dry weight) of Cd (0.29), Cr (4.64), Cu (8.85), Fe (65.66), Mn (5.14), Hg (2.91), Ni (3.18), Pb (5.14) and Zn (72.16) were recorded at site C. Among the sampled fish species, C. mrigala showed highest potential of metals bioaccumulation than L. rohita and C. catla. Scales of the fishes caught during low flow season showed significantly (P 0.001) higher concentrations of metals than the high flow season. The variations in metals contents in fishes’ scales were associated with variations in heavy metals contents in the environment during different seasons. These results revealed the potential of fish scales to depict the metal profile of water bodies without sacrificing the animals.