Accumulation of cadmium, copper, lead, zinc and iron in the edible oyster, Saccostrea cucullata in coastal areas of West Bengal

Abstract

The coastal region of West Bengal has exhibited signs of impaired ecological health due to rapid urbanization and industrialization. In the last century, these regions were highly polluted with heavy metals which caused a great concern to the health of ecosystem as well as human beings. There is high probability of bioaccumulation of these metals because most of them are non biodegradable or poorly biodegradable. The present study deals with the accumulation of heavy metals like cadmium, copper, lead, zinc and iron in the tissue of oysters (Saccostrea cucullata). Specimens of S. cucullata (Born) were collected from Shankarpur of East Midnapur and Satgelia of Sundarbans. The physico-chemical parameters like temperature, salinity, pH of water bodies of these two experimental sites were also determined and recorded. It appears that the accumulations of cadmium, copper, lead, zinc and iron were high in this edible oyster tissue of both regions.

Keywords: Edible oyster, Saccostrea cucullata, heavy metals, urbanization, industrialization

African Journal of Biotechnology Vol. 12(24), pp. 3872-3877