Distribution of Heavy Metals in Organs of Freshwater Fishes from Kalong and Shendam Rivers, Shendam Local Government Area of Plateau State, Nigeria.

Abstract

This work was carried out to investigate the accumulation profile of heavy metals in three fish species namely; Albula vulpe, Clarias gariepinus and Tilapia zilli. The maximum mean concentration, 53.95 mg/kg was recorded for Mn in the liver. Cd, Cr and Pb, measured relatively lower concentrations from as low as 0.0 mg/kg, <0.001 mg/kg. The least detectable concentration, 0.0 mg/kg was measured for Cd in gills, Ni in liver and Pb in liver of Albula vulpe. The concentration of Mn measured in all the fish samples exceeded the WHO limit of 0.5 mg/L in drinking water. All the concentrations measured for Pb, were above the FAO limit of 0.5 mg/kg except at a few locations where the concentrations were 0.0, 0.3 mg/kg, measured in gills of Albula vulpe and liver of Clarias gariepinus repectively. The mean of the total concentration of each metal in all the samples indicate that the concentrations of the heavy metals in the samples are generally well above the respective recommended guidelines.

Keywords: Albula vulpe, Clarias gariepinus, Heavy metals, Plateau State, Tilapia zilli