Concentration of (Fe, Mn, Mg, Ni) in five Species of Fishes Caught in Parangipettai Coastal Waters

The objective of the present study is to determine the accumulation of heavy metals in five of the most commercially important fishes caught in the Parangipettai coastal waters and analyzed for the (Fe, Mn, Mg, Ni) concentrations in the muscles. The results revealed that the Mn and Fe concentrations were the highest; followed by Mg and Ni being the lowest in the all five species of fish tissue. The muscle concentrations of Mn<Fe<Mg<Ni ranged from 0.274±0.03-53.39±14.3, 0.132±0.11-10.52±1.51, 0.628±0.12-28.61±1.56, 0.023±0.01-0.261±0.14ppm respectively. A significant species-specific difference was not found. The Pomadasys maculates contained higher muscle concentrations of Fe, Mn and Mg than the other species of fishes. However, the Ambassis commersoni contained the highest concentrations of Mn and medium concentration of most of the metals. The accumulation of most of the metals followed the ratio as Pomadasys maculates < Anchoviella commersonii < Ambassis commersoni < Upeneus vittatus <Lutjanus adetii. As these fishes are extensively used for human consumption, this finding shows that these metals are all within the limits and therefore no public health problem would be raised in the consumption of the fishes.