Heavy Metal Contamination Profile of Four Selected Seafoods Harvested on Itu River in the Niger Delta Region of Nigeria

Copyright © 2014 ISSR Journals. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. ABSTRACT: The Niger Delta region is notorious for oil and remains the most exploited region. As a result, pollution from anthropogenic sources is on the increase. Heavy metals mercury (Hg), lead(Pb), cadmium(Cd), iron(Fe), copper(Cu) and zinc(Zn) were studied in four species namely Austropotamobius pallipes, Penaeus notialis, Tympanotonus fuscatus and Archachatina maginata at two different periods of three months interval. The samples were analysed using atomic absorption spectrophotometer and triplicate results obtained were analysed using ANOVA. Hg and Pb were not detected (<0.0001ppm) in both study periods and species examined. Zn, Fe, Cu and Cd were detected in all species but were all below maximum allowable limits of international guidelines. Thus, all four seafoods studied are safe for consumption. However, there is need to monitor seafoods coming out from the region from to time