A Survey of Mercury Concentrations in Soft Tissue of Bivalves Callista umbonella, Saccostrea cucullata and Sediment in the Coastline of Bandar Abbas

Background and Objectives: The present study was designed to determine total mercury concentrations in sediment and the soft tissues of two bivalve species, Saccostrea cucullata and Callista umbonella, in coastline of Bandar Abbas in 2011. Materials and Methods: Generally, 67 bivalves and 10 sediment samples were collected from two stations (terminal of Bandar Abbas and tourism park of Soro). We measured total mercury concentrations in each sample using Mercury Analyzer (Leco AMA 254). Results: Means of mercury concentration were 145.58 and 151.13 (ng/g dw) in soft tissues of oyster S. cucullata and 34.5 and 63.95 in the soft tissues of Clam C. umbonella in two stations, terminal of Bandar Abbas and tourism park of Soro respectively. Total mercury concentrations were 30.27 and 20.55 (ng /g dw) in the sediment samples in two stations, terminal of Bandar Abbas and tourism park of Soro respectively. A significant difference was found in mercury concentrations between soft tissue of the two species (p