Investigation of heavy metals accumulation in muscle tissue of Mugil auratus in relation to standard length, weight, age and sex

We assessed concentration of heavy metals (Zn, Cu, Pb, Cd) in the muscle tissue of Mugil auratus caught from important parts of Caspian Sea in Mazandaran Province in autumn 2002. After biometrical measurements, the muscle tissue of 32 randomly selected fish were separated using standard method MOOPAM 1999. Metals were extracted from the tissues using Closed Digestion method and acidic mixture (Moopam, 1983). Concentrations of the heavy metals were measured by FAAS (AAS4 Zeiss Germany). Mean concentrations for Zn, Cu, Pb, Cd (14.327, 0.996, 2.337 and 0321 ppm/dry weight) were compared with the international standards such as WHO, UK (MAFF), and NHMRC. A T. test showed higher than normal concentration of Pb, Cd in the muscle tissues. We found a positive linear relationship between accumulation of Zinc and Cadmium with weight, sex and standard length factors a negative linear relationship between accumulation of Pb with weight, sex and standard length. There was no significant relationship between accumulations of Cu with the biometrical factors of the sampled fish. Also, no relationship was found between sex and accumulation of Zn, Cu, Pb, Cd, while the accumulation of Pb in male samples were more than female ones