Melanoides tuberculate as Bioindicator of the Heavy Metal Contamination in Water and Sediment Pollution of Euphrates River at Thi-Qar province, Iraq

Aims: The aim of this study was determination the diversity of the aquatic Gastropoda species and to assess heavy metals in water, sediment, soft tissue, and shell Melanoides tuberculata by evaluating some of the physical and chemical factors for the river. Material Methods: The study was done during the Summer and Winter seasons and samples were collected from three study sites along the Euphrates river. The samples were analyzed using Atomic Absorption Spectroscopy for the detection of heavy metals. Findings: The results revealed that Melanoides tuberculate, Physella acuta, Pisidium dubium, Melanopsis nodosa, and Corbicula fluminea were found in the studied station in both seasons with a high percent ratio (37.73, 20.27, 6.58, 8.42, 26.98%, respectively) in the summer season. Sediment has the highest mean concentration more than water. The heavy metals order was arranged as Zn ni pbMelanoides tuberculate is higher than in shell and they were arranged as Pb zn ni /zn ni /ni pb Conclusion: Lead and Zink were higher and exceed the permissible level. Melanoides tuberculate could accumulate the heavy metals in their metals then it could use as a bio-indicator for these metals to detect the pollution in the Euphrates River.