Indus river estuary: an assessment of potential risk of contaminants and ecosystem susceptibility

Abstract The Indus River is proclaimed as second most plastic-polluted rivers of the world. This river principal Pakistan and supplies freshwater for agriculture human consumption. Its terminus into northern Arabian Sea creates a unique ecosystem that supports variety aquatic organisms. In this study we have evaluate heavy metal concentration in fishes sampled from IRE. Muscle tissues five fish species ecologically economically important were concentrations cadmium (0.125‒1.025 µg g −1 , 0.93 ± 0.33), lead (0.250‒2.560 0.92 0.86), arsenic (4.178‒6.337 4.24 2.13) mercury (BDL‒0.116 0.05 0.04) found to be beyond optimum level. We determined pollution load index which indicated IRE exhibits significant seasonal oscillations. addition assay note frequent appearance abnormal caught IRE, validates load. Multivariate approaches, canonical correspondence analysis cluster analysis, used relationships among environmental variables influence concentration. first document metals detected inhabiting highlights concerns regarding need management measures. Highlights examined commercial ecological valuable Estuary (IRE) time. approaches determine efficacy parameters predict described presence abnormalities result contamination observe mechanism action organism health food poorly understood.