Abstract:
Pollution seriously threatens wetland habitats, one of the main pollutants coming from heavy
metals. The iron (Fe), zinc (Zn), copper (Cu), mercury (Hg), cadmium (Cd) and lead (Pb) were assessed in
the water, sediment and in the giant mudskipper fish, Periophthalmodon schlosseri. The assessment ofheavy
metals was carried out by using an atomic absorption reader (AA-6200 AAS Flame Emission
Spectrophotometer Shimadzu). The average concentrations of these metals in water decreased as follows:
Fe>Pb>Zn>Hg>Cd>Cu, while metals in the sediment samples decreased as follows:
Fe>Zn>Cu>Pb>Cd>Hg. Heavy metal concentrations in fish tissue and skin mucus were higher than the
concentrations found in water bodies. The highest metal concentrations were found as follows: Fe in the
kidney, Zn in the skin mucus, Cu in the kidney, Hg in the skin mucus, Cd in the liver and Pb in the skin
mucus. In all fish tissues and skin mucus, Fe concentration was the highest. The bio-water accumulation
factors of P. schlosseri tissue and skin mucus were substantially higher than the bio-sediment accumulation
factors, suggesting that this fish can be utilized as a bioindicator for certain heavy metalsin water. Because
the coefficients of variation (CV) of heavy metal accumulation in fish tissues vary, these combined three
fish tissue types (liver, kidney and skin mucus) have the potential to be used as aninstrument to evaluate
heavy metal pollutants such as Fe, Zn, Cu, Hg, Pb and Cd. There was a correlation between the heavy metal
concentrations in water, sediment, kidney, liver and skin mucus, demonstrating that giant mudskipper fish
can accumulate heavy metals in these tissue types.
Key Words: bioaccumulation, bioindicator, heavy metal pollution, skin mucus.
