RIVIEW JURNAL EKOTOKSIKOLOGI

Pengurangan yang efektif dari aliran limbah industri yang mengandung logam berat harus terkait dengan penghapusan cepat ion logam pada konsentrasi yang tinggi. Penyerapan pada dua logam berat (tembaga dan kadmium) pada penelitian ini dilakukan oleh saccustrea cucullata dan daimbil dari ekosistem mangrove di Utara Teluk Persia. Tiram hidup mampu mengurangi jumlah kadmium dan tembaga dari 150 dan 200 mg / l menjadi 118.68 dan masing-masing 133,30 mg / l. Oyster memiliki tingkat clearance yang berbeda terhadap tembaga dan kadmium saat bersamaan digunakan. Kerang mati juga memiliki kemampuan yang baik untuk mengurangi kondensasi logam. Logam mampu mengurangi kinerja absorpsi kerang-kerangan dan jenis lainnya (Kramer et al. 1989), karena dengan adanya konsentrasi logam berat yang tinggi Hasil awal dari tingkat clearance untuk tembaga dan kadmium menunjukkan bahwa tiram menunjukkan hasil yang berbeda, ketika terpapar logam esensial dan non-esensial. Kemampuan saccustrea cucullata dalam menurunkan konsentrasi logam berat dari air laut dalam kadmium dan tembaga dari air laut sekitar 150 dan 200 ppb, dalam tiram hidup adalah 116,69 ug / l (dalam 49 menit) dan penurunan maksimum (dalam 7 menit) adalah 111,3 dan 129,6 mg / l. Penurunan rata-rata konsentrasi kadmium oleh kerang dari 150 mg / l menjadi 138.73 g / l. Pengurangan tembaga dari air dengan tiram hidup berbeda pada waktu percobaan (P <0,05) dan penurunan rata-rata adalah 133,30 ug / l. Nilai-nilai terendah (dalam 7 menit) dan pengurangan maksimum (dalam 42 menit) adalah 126,9 dan 145,7. Diketahui bahwa penurunan pada cadmium oleh S.cuculata lebih sensitif daripada tembaga. Menurut hasil penelitian dapat disimpulkan bahwa Saccostrea cucullata (kerang hidup dan mati) dapat digunakan sebagai biofilter. Tekanan pencemaran oleh logam berat cenderung meningkat lebih tinggi di zona pesisir. Kadar kadmium lebih tinggi dari tembaga, misalnya dilepaskan dari cat anti-fouling dan digunakan pada kebanyakan kapal di teluk, tetapi juga dari sumber lain, seperti limbah industri, limbah yang tidak diobati dan kebocoran dari sedimen. Sebagai kesimpulan, penggunaan Saccostrea cucullata untuk pengendalian pencemaran logam berat di Teluk Persia bisa menjadi sarana yang menjanjikan. Dalam penelitian di Shatt Al-Arab River konsentrasi logam berat (Pb, Mn,

Ni, Fe, Cu, dan Zn) ditentukan pada udang Atyaephyra. Konsentrasi logam pada udang A. desmaresti mesopotamica yang diberikan direpresentasikan dalam mg g-1 berat kering. Hasilnya ditemukan bahwa semua konsentrasi logam terdapat dalam seluruh tubuh udang betina yang diteliti, yaitu (4,31, 7.80, 16.64, 136.79, 9.36 dan 44.17 ) untuk (Pb, Mn, Ni, Fe, Cu dan Zn) masing-masing secara signifikan lebih tinggi dibanding musim lainnya. Hal ini menunjukkan bahwa udang betina cenderung menumpuk logam berat. Sementara pada udang jantan akumulasi juga tinggi di Spring (16,74, 141,8, 9,91 dan 43,52) untuk (Ni, Fe, Cu dan Zn) kecuali Pb dan Mn logam yang tinggi di musim panas, hal ini dikarenakan bioakumulasi logam tergantung pada jalan masuknya, yaitu melalui makanan, media, saluran pernapasan, lingkungan.dan faktor-faktor seperti jumlah serapan, kemampuan mengeluarkan kelebihan logam, lingkungan biotik (suhu, salinitas) yang mempengaruhi akumulasi dari logam dalam biota (Win dan Nicholus, 1997;. Soundarapandian et al, 2010). Hal Ini menunjukkan bahwa sungai telah tercemar oleh logam berat yang menyebabkan bioakumulasi kedua polutan dalam rantai makanan pengaruh limbah industry (Al-Khafaji 2000). Tercemarnya sungai oleh logam berat juga disebabkan akumulasi jaringan yang tergantung konsentrasi air, dan banyaknya bentuk elemen yang ada dalam air dan atau makanan. Hal ini dapat mempengaruhi asupan logam dan akumulasi (Ravera et al., 2007). Di antara enam logam yang diuji pada udang jantan dan betina, konsentrasi Fe adalah yang tertinggi (141,8 ug g-1d.w) di musim semi untuk jantan dan Pb adalah yang terendah (2,49 mg g-1 dw) di musim dingin untuk jantan. Selama hidup udang ada unsur fluks dari air dan makanan ke jaringan udang dan sebaliknya. Ketika udang tersedia sebagai makanan hingga membusuk udang memainkan peran penting dalam lingkungan air (Bieny et al., 1994). Studi lokal yang dilakukan pada udang di Shatt Al-Arab oleh (Abaychi dan DouAbul et al, 1985) menunjukkan tingkat kontaminasi logam dalam air, sedimen dan organisme. Konsentrasi tinggi terdapat pada Cd, Cu, Fe, Pb, Mn, Ni, V dan Zn dari dua jenis udang yang umum dimakan yaitu Metapenaeus affiinis dan Penaeus semisulcatus dari Irak dan Kuwait.

Jurnal 1
Int Aquat Res (2010) 2: 61-69
ISSN 2008-4935 Available online at www.intelaquares.com

International Aquatic Research

Biosorption and bioaccumulation of heavy metals by rock oyster Saccostrea cucullata in the Persian Gulf
Hamed Azarbad1*, Arash Javanshir Khoi1, Alireza Mirvaghefi1, Afshin Danekar1, Maryam Shapoori 2

Department of Fisheries and Environmental Sciences,University of Tehran, Faculty of Natural Resources, Karaj, Iran Department of Fisheries, Islamic Azad University of Savadkoh, Savadkoh, Iran

Received:7 December 2009; Accepted: 21 March 2010

Abstract

Effective treatments of industrial waste streams and toxic spills containing heavy metals related with rapid removal of metal ions at high concentrations. Influences of clearance and absorption rates on two heavy metals (copper and cadmium) by saccustrea cucullata originated from mangrove ecosystem in the Northern Persian Gulf were investigated. Specimens were collected from sub-tidal band during neap tide; groups of 15 individual were placed in 1.5 L containers (2-liter volume), which were immersed in the water. After the acclimation time (i.e. the regulation of filtration activity caused by manipulation and any other sources), specific clearance and absorption performances were measured during alternation of stagnation and flow positions. Temperature, salinity and particle concentrations were maintained. The clearance rate is affected by the amount of cadmium (from 1.69 to 0.04 ml min/g/h AFDW) and copper (from 2.16 ml to 0.42 ml min/g/h AFDW). Although the clearance rate was significantly reduced, live oysters reduced the amount of cadmium and copper from 150 and 200 g/l to 118.68 and 133.30 g/l respectively. Oyster had the different clearance rates toward copper and cadmium when simultaneously introduced. The dead shells also had a good ability to reduce the metal condensation. According to the results it can be concluded that Sacostrea cucullata can be used as biofilters with good clearance ability.

Introduction

Keywords: Persian Gulf, Retention rate, Mangrove, Bivalves, Heavy metal absorption

There are two main sources of heavy metal contamination in aquatic ecosystems: natural processes or natural occurring deposits and anthropogenic activities. Anthropogenic activities have the highest importance (Francis 1994). The marine environment toxic metals are potentially accumulated in sediments and marine organisms, and subsequently transferred to man through the food chain. Heavy metals are among dangerous parts of oil pollution. The large body of literature on the consequences of metal contamination of water attests to the fact that this is increasingly a worldwide problem growing in scale and degradation of global habitat (Vitousek et al. 1997). Metals can be divided in two groups: essential metals (e.g. copper, zinc, iron, etc.) and non essential toxic metals (e.g. cadmium, vanadium, nickel, etc.). Those metals are

Corresponding author. Email: Azarbad.Hamed@gmail.com.

2010, IAU, Tonekabon, IAR-09-1050.

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dissolved in the water or accumulated in the body of aquatic organisms (Amiard et al. 1987). Due to the rarity of some metals in the environment, they can be used as indicators of oil pollution. Metals are known to reduce the performance of bivalve molluscs (Kramer et al. 1989), because in the presence of a high concentration of heavy metals, bivalve molluscs keep their shells closed for a longer period of time (Doherty et al. 1987), producing fewer byssus threads (Martin et al. 1975) and reduce heart rates (Grace and Gainey 1987). Also some marine bivalves reduce their filtration rates (Watling 1981; Grace and Gainey 1987). The Persian Gulf is a shallow basin with an average depth of 3540 m and a total area of around 240 sq. km. It joins free international waters through the Strait of Hormuz (Banat et al. 1998). The turnover and flushing time have been estimated to be in the range of 35 yr indicating that pollutants are likely to reside in the Persian Gulf for a considerable time (Sheppard 1993). Due to shallow depth, limited circulation and high salinity and temperature Persian Gulf (Saeed et al. 1995), impacts of pollutants on the marine environment may be significant. Occurrence of several environmental disasters in the region during the recent years (including the biggest oil spill in the world in 1991) and increasing pollution, urges treatments that are efficient and cost-effective. Bivalves have been extensively used for the assessment of the petroleum hydrocarbons and heavy metals (de Mora et al. 2005; Fowler et al. 1993) in the Gulf. Consideration of the ability of certain plants and animals to accumulate trace metals above ambient water concentration has led to the use of certain macrophytes (Jackson 1982; Fisher 1985) and mollusks (Bebianno et al. 1993; Walsh et al. 1995) as biofilter organisms. The purpose of this study was to examine the role of oyster filtration (alive oysters and dead shells) in mangrove habitat so as to reduce the pollutants in Persian Gulf. The Uptake and clearance rate of saccustrea cucullata was measured when it was exposed to heavy metals (cadmium and copper) in natural conditions in order to determine the capability of the oyster filtration rate as well as the impact of the heavy metals on the clearance rate.

Materials and methods

Study site The in situ experiments were carried out in Queshm Island in the north of Hormuz strait (2645N 5549E) in the Persian Gulf in June 2009. Laboratory measurements of heavy metals were performed in the Department of Fisheries and Environmental Science, Faculty of Natural Resources, University of Tehran, Karaj, Iran. Experimental set-up Mesocosm was situated below the sea water surface in the selected coast of mangrove forest (based on easier availability, the existence of saccustrea cucullata communities and accessibility to basic data). First, an iron bench was installed on intertidal sediment near to subtidal zone during the low tide. The bench had two distinct levels (Figure 1), distanced by 1 m from each other. Feeding reservoirs of 20-liter were placed on the upper level in order to allow the system flow by gravity. Recipients of 2-liter volume were placed below water surface at the lower level of the bench. The intermediate pipe between feeding reservoir and mesocosm recipient below the water was chosen from PVC tube. Flow taps were installed to control water flow rate and manipulate current-flow conditions. As it can be observed from Figure 1, water inlet was located at the bottom of recipient, while the water outlet was on the top. Then, some of the alive oysters were washed, weighed and placed in the mesocosm (2-liter volume) provided with filtered water (MW cut-off: 50 m). The second group of the experiment, which contains the dead shells, was also weighed and put in another mesocosm (2-liter volume). The water was kept and always air-saturated with oxygen. The beginning time of the experiment was started when bivalve siphons could be observed from the recipient walls (after adaptation to new condition). At the beginning of the experiment, heavy metal solution (dissolved in distilled water), was added to the feeding tank situated 1.5 m higher than mesocosm. The initial concentrations for cadmium and copper were 150 g/l and 200 g/l, respectively. CdCl2 and CuSO4 were used to prepare initial solutions. Each experiment involved two paralleled mesocosm for alive bivalves and dead shells. The absorption procedure was consisted of two minutes of flow followed by five minutes of stagnation. This stop-flow condition was repeated seven times,

causing 50 minutes of experimental time for each metal. The sampling was done at the beginning of two minutes and at the end of five minutes.

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Feeding 20 liter
Flow Taps

Reservoirs 20 liter
Flow Taps

Sea level

Output Input 1.5 m

Sediment Surface

Fig. 1. In situ mesocosm settlement in subtidal zone, where parts are installed on a bench settled on the sediments. Contaminated sea water from reservoirs of 20 liters flowed into filtration chambers (A & B) of 2 liters, where each one contained alive or dead oysters Taps, installed in input and output flow pipes was installed to control water velocity in the system.

Clearance rate After doing contamination experiments, enclosures were cleaned and filled again with filtered seawater (55 m), containing a known concentration of the phytoplankton, Dunaliella salina ( 10 000 cells/ml). This was considerably below the threshold value of 5 mg/l (Widdows et al. 1979) above which the organic material is

deposited by bivalve molluscs as pseudofaeces (Foster-Smith 1975a, b). Water samples were taken after 30 minutes and the particle concentration was determined through visual counting under a microscope using a Neobar slide with five replicates. Clearance rate (defined as the volume water cleared of Dunaliella cells per time unit and biomass) was calculated by the following formula Jrgensen (1990): Clearance rate (CR: ml. min/g ) = V (ln C0-C1)/W.T where: C0 = cell concentration at time T0 C1 = cell concentration at time T1 W and T = AFDW biomass (g) and experimental period (min), respectively V = volume of the recipient (ml)

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Sample preparation The water samples were prepared for analysis according to chelation-extraction method (Long and Martin, 1991). The samples were transferred to tightly-sealed polyethylene containers to avoid adsorption of metals from digested solution and kept at 4 C prior to further analysis. Individuals were dried to a constant weight at 90C and ashed at 538 C for 5 hours to determine Ash-free dry weight (AFDW).

Analytical Method Elements contents in samples were determined using Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometer (VG PlasmaQuad 3 VG Elemental, Winsford, Cheshire, UK). A known amount of an indium standard solution was added to HNO3 solution as an internal standard. All analyses were undertaken at least in triplicate on each sample and the mean values were calculated.

Data analysis

The unpaired T-test was used to compare each group (alive and dead shell) at different time of experiment. Clearance rate data were log transformed to achieve homogeneous variances for statistical analysis (Bartlett's test, Sokal and Rohlf 1981). Differences were considered significant at P < 0.05.

Results
Clearance measurements Preliminary results of clearance rates for copper and cadmium showed that oysters demonstrated different behaviors, when they were exposed to these metals, essential and non-essential, respectively. In case of cadmium, oyster cleared sea water as high as 2.39 ml/min in the beginning of exposure but this value decreased rapidly to 0.4 ml. Clearance rates remained constant after 49 minutes. Clearance rate of live oysters exposed to cadmium at different exposure time were significantly different (P < 0.05). Average of clearance rate in live oysters was calculated to be 0.59 ml min/g AFDW and the least (at 35 minute) and maximum clearance (at 7 minute) in this group was 0.04 and 2.39 ml min/g AFDW respectively. With increasing exposure time with metal, clearance rate was reduced. The most clearance rate in treatment was measured at the beginning of experiment and this rate was decreased during Experimental period (Fig. 2). Clearance rate of dead shells exposed to cadmium with different exposure times was also different (P < 0.05). Average rate of clearance of the dead shells was 0.23 ml min/g DW and the lowest (at 14 and 35 minutes) and highest value (at me 28 minutes) in this group was 0.007 and 0.79 ml min /g DW, respectively. In case of copper, clearance rate of alive oyster and dead shells exposed to this metal (200 g/l) was significantly different between two groups (P < 0.05) (Fig. 2). Clearance rate of live oysters was different among tested times (P < 0.05). Average of clearance rate in the live oysters was 1.1 ml min /g AFDW and the minimum (at 28 min) and maximum values (during the 7 and 14 minutes) were 0.42 and 1.94 ml min /g AFDW respectively.

Ability of oyster in decreasing heavy metal concentration from sea water (reduction rate) Figure 3 shows the removal of cadmium and copper from the sea water of about 150 and 200 ppb, by saccustrea cucullata, respectively. Reduction rate (the decrease in heavy metal concentration by alive or dead oyster in each experimental period, compared with initial concentration) of cadmium in two experimental groups was significantly different (P < 0.05). For alive oyster, this value was different during the experiment. The average reductions in concentration of cadmium in alive oyster were 116.69 g/l and the minimum (in 49 minutes) and maximum decreases (in 7 minutes) were 111.3 and 129.6 g/l, respectively. The average reduction of cadmium concentration by shells, compared with initial concentration (150 g/l), was calculated to be 138.73 g/l (Fig. 2 A). Similarly, copper reduction rate in the two experimental groups was different (P < 0.05). Reduction rate of copper from water by live oysters was different at the experimental times (P < 0.05) and average reduction was 133.30 g/l. The lowest values (in 7 minutes) and maximum reduction (in 42 minutes) were 126.9 and 145.7 respectively. Therefore, the absorption rate increased over time. It was noted that average decrease in copper concentrations by shells was 181.07 g/l (Fig. 2 B). Shell clearance rate when exposed to copper was not significantly different with the tested time. Average rate of clearance in shells was 0.3 ml min/g DW.

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Table 1 shows the reduction of cadmium and copper from solution using live oyster and shells. After 49 minutes of continuous stirring, the average reduction of cadmium from solution compared with initial concentration in treatment and control reached 22.14% and 8.15% respectively. The total cadmium concentration in the water was reduced from 150 ppb to 116.69 and 138.73 ppb in treatment and control, respectively. The initial removal and the overall removal of cadmium from water decreased with increasing exposure times.

Table 1. Removal amounts of copper and cadmium in treatments (live oysters) compared to those of control (dead shells)

Time (min)

Percent of copper removed in control 3.20 9.60 11.68 7.60 10.30 9.60 11.35

Percent of copper removed in treatment 27.15 30.90 33.20 35.25 34.25 36.55 35.42

Percent of copper removed in control

Percent of copper removed in treatment 27.87 21.27 24.93 18.87 25.80 20.00 16.73

14 21 28 35 42 49

The average copper reduction in treatment and control of 33.35% and 9.05% respectively for copper removal from solution was achieved after 49 minutes of continuous stirring. The total copper concentration in solution was reduced from 200 ppb to 133.30 and 183.07 ppb in treatment and control, respectively. The initial removal and the overall removal of copper from water showed no decrease with increasing exposure times.

Discussion
The current work investigated the potential of rock oyster for rapid removal of high concentrations of metal ions and determines effect of heavy metals on clearance rate of oyster. The exposed individuals of S.cucullata to cadmium and copper showed a dramatic decrease in clearance rate. This was more pronounced for cadmium, suggesting that this species is more sensitive to cadmium exposure than the copper. Reduced clearance rate could be the result of gill damages, since one of the recorded effects of sub lethal concentrations of cadmium is structural deformations of gills (Viarengo 1989). The reduction in clearance could also be the result of avoiding the cadmium and copper through partial valve closure, although this behavior was not observed in the present study. This behavior has been reported for the blue mussel, Mytilus edulis, when exposed to copper (Davenport 1977; Manley 1983). Our results demonstrated that clearance rate was a sensitive parameter for determining the effects of metals on S. cucullata . In case of cadmium, clearance rate of live oyster at initial time of experiment was 2.39 ml min /g AFDW, while this value decreased to 0.5 ml min /g AFDW at the end of experiment. Clearance rate in live oysters exposed to copper at the first time (7 minutes) was 1.52 ml min /g AFDW and that obtained at the end (49 minutes) was 1.12 ml min /g AFDW. Thus, the oysters exposed to cadmium were more influenced than those exposed to copper. This was in agreement with results of other studies for marine bivalves, e.g. Mytilus edulis (Abel 1976; Watling 1981). Cadmium uptake by freshwater mussels has been shown to be highly dependent on concentration, duration of exposure (Das and Jana 1999), mussel length (Roseman et al. 1994), and detoxification mechanisms. In the experiments of clearance and uptake rate in both live oyster and dead shells exposed to cadmium and copper (Figure 2), re-dissolution of absorbed heavy metals was observed. This was expected with the short exposure time. Effective treatments of industrial waste streams and toxic spills containing heavy metals depend on the rapid removal of high concentrations of metal ions (Demetra 2007). For dead

shells, the first removal occurred, then re-dissolution, afterward removal again and so on. The re-dissolution could occur as a result of number of factors: a change in pH beyond a critical value, a change in temperature due to heating from the continuous operation of the stirrer, or a change in the crystal structure of the formed calcium/cadmium, copper compound following sorption (Elfwing 2002). It was concluded that in dead shells the

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mechanism of the removal of heavy metal ions was rapid absorption of the metal and exchange of calcium ions of the shell with metal ions from the aqueous solution (Demetra 2007). Maximum reduction rate of cadmium by live oyster was obtained in 7 minutes, although the highest clearance rate of live oyster was also found at this time. Similarly, the lowest clearance rate of live oysters was observed at the end of experiment (49 minutes) and at this time the minimum reduction of the metal concentration from water by S. cucullata was found (Table 1 and Figs. 1, 2). While this model was not found in the case of copper. The highest purification rate of live oyster was in the first time, while most of copper reduction took place at the end of experiment. This shows that at the beginning of the experiment oyster was able to control absorption of copper, but after being exposed to the metal, this ability was decreased (Table 1 and Figs. 1, 2). It was suggested that S. cucullata was capable of regulating the concentration of the essential metals Cu in the body, whereas Cd, which is a non-essential element, cannot be regulated. This has been found for several other organisms, including Mytilus edulis (Amiard et al. 1987; Rainbow and White 1989). Rainbow and White (1989) showed that Zn regulation in the decapods, Palaemon elegans, is an active process; an increased rate of Zn uptake was matched by an increased Zn excretion (White and Rainbow 1982). When the effective concentrations for Cu and Cd, found in this study, are compared with quality criteria for metal concentrations in surface water (3 g/l Cd and 0.2 g/l) (Ministerie van Verkeer en Waterstaat 1988-1989), it appears that all effective concentrations were above these levels, suggesting that S. cucullata was sufficiently protected by these quality criteria. This oyster lives in a constantly changing environment, rendering higher tolerance than species below the intertidal zone (Newell 1970). Since they are evolved in and adapted to such variable environments, they have a better ability to tolerate any toxic compound, and possibly every perturbation, than would morphologically similar organisms adapted to stable environments (Fisher 1977). Currently, the treatment of choice for reducing or removing dissolved heavy metals is chemical precipitation. Although this method is fairly inexpensive, it has disadvantages including slow reaction times, a need for pH control during treatment, subsequent pH readjustment, high residual metal solubilities at near-neutral pH, the need for adding polyelectrolytes or other chemicals for the coagulation and flocculation steps as well as reliance on numerous chemicals as coagulant aids to further promote rapid settling; high chemical costs and the concomitant disposal costs. Use of shell and live oyster as an alternative to precipitation offers a benign process that could replace, or at least lessen, current reliance on the great quantities of generally corrosive chemicals that are essential with conventional precipitation treatment methods. According to our results, it can be concluded that Saccostrea cucullata (live and dead shells) can be used as biofilters with good clearance ability. The pollution pressure imposed by heavy metals is likely to increase even further in the area, due to the accelerating development throughout the coastal zone. A higher cadmium and copper load, e.g. released from anti-fouling paint used on most vessels in the gulf, will most certainly result from increasing shipping activities, but also from other sources, like industrial wastes, untreated sewage and leakage from sediments. As a conclusion, the use of Saccostrea cucullata for control of heavy metal pollution in the Persian Gulf can be a promising mean

Acknowledgements

This study was funded by a research grant of the Iranian Offshore Oil Company.

References
Abel PD. 1976. Effect of some pollutants on the filtration rate of Mytilus edulis. Mar Pollut 7(12): 228-31. Amiard JC, Amiard-Triquet C, Berthet B, Metayer C. 1987. Comparative study of the patterns of bioaccumulation of essential (Cu, Zn) and non-essential (Cd, Pb) trace metals in various estuarine and coastal organisms. J Exp Mar Biol Ecol 106: 73-89. Anderlini V, Al-Harmi L, Delappe B, Risebrough R, Walker W, Simoneit B, Newton A. 1981. Distribution of hydrocarbons in the oyster Pinctada margaritifera, along the coast of Kuwait. Marine Pollution Bulletin 12: 57-62. Banat IM, Hassan E S, El-Shahawi M S, Abu-Hilal A H. 1998. Post-Gulf war assessment of nutrients, heavy metal ions, hydrocarbons and bacterial pollution levels in the United Arab Emirates coastal waters. Environ Intern 24(1/2): 109116. Bebianno MJ, Nott JA, Langston WJ. 1993. Cadmium metabolism in the clam, Ruditapes decussata. Aquat Toxicol 27: 315334.

Jurnal 2
Mesopot. J. Mar. Sci., 2010, 25 (2): 37 - 44

Assessment of the accumulation of some trace metals in whole body of fresh water shrimp Atyaephyra desmaresti mesopotamica from Shatt Al-Arab River, Basrah, Iraq
S.T.L. Al-Yaseri
Marine Science Centre, Basra University, Basrah-Iraq email: alyaseri 2007 @yahoo.com (Received: 2 June 2010 - Accepted: 3 November 2010) Abstract - Concentrations of heavy metals (Pb, Mn, Ni, Fe, Cu, and Zn) were determined in shrimp Atyaephyra desmaresti mesopotamica collected from Shatt Al-Arab River, Basrah, Iraq. The elements content were determined in whole body biomass. The seasonal variations of the element concentrations, and the relationship between element concentrations in males and females were estimated in this study. Measurements were done to evaluate trace metals in shrimps tissues in Qurmat-Ali in Shatt Al-Arab River between summer (May- August) 2008 and spring (March and April) 2009. Samples were collected seasonally. Tissue samples were analyzed by flame atomic absorption spectrophotometry. Females accumulated the trace metals in their bodies in spring higher than other seasons. Males accumulated the trace metals in their bodies in Spring higher than other seasons, except for Pb and Mn. Regarding to concentrations; the highest values were 141.80 g g-1 d.w in males and 136.79 g g-1 d.w in females for Iron, while the lowest values were 2.49 g g-1 d.w in males and 2.96 g g-1 d.w in females for Lead. Regarding to seasons; in Summer the concentrations of trace metals were higher in males than in females, except Zn, in Autumn they were higher in males than in females, except Pb and Ni, in Winter they were higher in males than in females, except Pb and Zn, in Spring they were higher in males than in females, except Pb, Mn and Zn. Keywords: Freshwater shrimp, Shatt Al-Arab River, metals

Introduction
Shrimps are frequently used as bio indicators in environmental monitoring due the species ability to accumulate pollutants from their ambient .Usually, the level of pollutant accumulated in such organism's tissues used for assessing the level of pollution in their habitat (AbdAllah and

Moustafa, 2002). Heavy metals enter aquatic environment from various sources. Rock and soils directly exposed to surface water are usually the largest natural source. Another major source is anthropogenic input, such as that from fossil fuel combustion, mining, smelting and solid waste incineration (Stein and Winer, 1996). Waste product like the waste from paper factory, batteries, pesticides and inorganic fertilizers enter Shatt Al-Arab River (Al-

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S.T.L. Al-Yaseri

Khafaji, 1996; Abaychi and Al-Saad, 1988). The concentration of heavy metals in natural environment depends on both natural and anthropogenic factors, which may play an important physiological role, but, also may impose a toxic effect on biosensors (Arkadiusz et al., 2007). Aquatic environment contaminated by heavy metals may lead to bioaccumulation of the heavy metals in the food chain of aquatic environment. Normally, such contaminants are transported from its sources through River system and deposited down stream. Since most of pollutant could be mixed and became suspended solid and bottom sediment through sedimentation (Abdullah et al., 2007). The presence of heavy metals in aquatic environment can lead to greater environmental problem when the elements are up taken by organisms, hence consumption of such kind of organisms may form a significant pathway to metals contamination in human beings and eventually poses greater health risk because of their stability (Bieny et al., 1994). Ingesting large amount of heavy metals like Lead can cause serious toxic effects, and health risks (Akinola et al., 2008). The crustaceans concentrate various toxic and non toxic trace metals in their bodies with no evident danger to themselves, so they often exploited to identify pollutant in aquatic environment (Abdullah and Al-Mansoori, 2002). During the shrimp life there is a continuous flux of element from the environment (water and food) to the shrimp tissues and vice versa. When shrimps become available as food for human and other organisms, or decompose, so the shrimps play an important role in the aquatic environment (Bieny et al., 1994). Local studies were done on the concentrations of trace metals in Shatt Al-Arab River by (Abaychi and DouAbul, 1985; Abaychi and Mustafa, 1988 ; Abaychi and Al Saad, 1988). They show levels of trace metals contamination in water, sediment and organisms. The concentration of trace metals in water were with the permitted level in spite of the domestic agriculture and industrial pollutants, beside the oil pollution. Al-Higag (1997) assessed the concentration of Cd, Cu, Pb and Zn in Al Ashar and in Al-Khandak canals and have recorded high concentrations. Al-Imarah et al. (1997) assessed the concentration of Cd, Cu, Fe, Pb, Mn, Ni, V and Zn of two type of commonly edible shrimp Metapenaeus affiinis and Penaeus semisulcatus from Iraq and Kuwait. In the present study, dealing with six trace metals (Pb, Mn, Ni, Fe, Cu and Zn) measured in whole body of the shrimp Atyaephyra desmaresti mesopotamica collected from Shatt Al-Arab River, Basrah, Iraq for the period from May 2008 to April 2009. The study area "Qurmat-Ali" is located at Shatt Al-Arab and shown in the (Figure 1). It was chosen to reflect possible sources of trace metals pollution. Aim of the research study and its Importance: 1-The main aim of this study was to evaluate the concentrations of heavy metals in the shrimp Atyaephyra desmaresti mesopotamica . The importance of this study is to contribute to the monitoring findings of pollution in Shatt Al-Arab River. Also, to compare the seasonal variations of heavy metals concentrations and to determining their permissible effluent

discharge rates in the aquatic environment.

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Results and Discussion

In this study concentrations of heavy metals (Pb, Mn, Ni, Fe, Cu, and Zn) were determined in shrimps collected from Qurmat-Ali. The overall concentrations in this studied shrimp A. desmaresti mesopotamica males and females are provided in Table 1 and Table 2, and represented in g g-1 dry weight. It was found that all of the metals concentrations in the tissues (whole body) of female shrimp collected from the site in spring (4.31, 7.80, 16.64, 136.79, 9.36 and 44.17) for (Pb, Mn, Ni, Fe, Cu and Zn) respectively were significantly higher (p<0.05) than those collected in other seasons. It indicated that the female tend to accumulate the heavy metals, the high concentration can be explained by its feeding mechanism, A. desmaresti mesopotamica are the species of crustaceans that live on the bottom of water bodies, as most trace metals are known to be associated with particles, especially sediment in fresh water especially the feeding increased during the Spring, and the fat accumulate in their tissues (Table 3) (Zhou et al., 1996; Dalia, 1999). While in male it was noticed that the accumulation also high in Spring (16.74, 141.8, 9.91 and 43.52) for (Ni, Fe, Cu and Zn) respectively, except Pb and Mn metals were high in Summer, the reason may be due to that the bioaccumulation of metals in any organisms depend on the route of entry, that is, either from surrounding medium or in the form of food or chemical form of material available in the media, and depend mainly on their environmental levels and also depend on various factors such as amount of uptake their hold and the physical efficiency of the organism to excrete excess of metals on the other hand, various a biotic environment conditions (mainly temperature, salinity and hardness in addition to seasons location) affect accumulation of trace metals in biota (Win and Nicholus, 1997; Soundarapandian et al., 2010).

Table 1: Mean concentrations of trace metals (g g -1 d.w) for male shrimp A. desmoresti mosopotamica , stander deviation, during the studied period from 2008-2009. Summer 2008 3.37 0.17 8.60 0.32 Seasons Autumn Winter 2008 2009 2.89 0.63 6.67 1.19 Spring 2009

2.49 2.98 0.52 0.26 7.15 6.72 2.97 0.30

15.44 0.09 85.84 1.609 7.05 0.90 25.32 1.10

16.26 16.54 16.74 1.22 1.28 0.32 105.26 108.11 141.80 14.87 1.04 4.83 8.26 6.91 9.91 1.49 0.18 0.14 27.51 26.44 43.52 1.48 0.81 1.46

Assessment of the accumulation of some trace metals

41

Table 2: Mean concentrations of trace metals (g g -1 d.w) for female shrimp A. desmoresti mosopotamica , stander deviation, during the studied period from 2008-2009. Season Autumn Winter 2008 2009

Summer 2008

Spring 2009

3.28 3.16 2.96 4.31 0.29 0.04 0.18 0.15 5.40 6.08 5.83 7.80 0.36 0.09 0.09 0.65 15.25 16.41 16.20 16.64 0.37 0.59 0.41 0.54 75.87 99.66 103.53 136.79 15.02 1.37 1.38 2.06 6.59 0.03 26.55 0.24 6.90 6.41 9.36 0.21 0.45 0.30 27.21 27.24 44.17 0.91 1.13 0.7

Table 3: The percentage of fat for male and female shrimp A. desmoresti mosopotamica through the seasons, during the studied period from 2008-2009. Season Summer 2008 Autumn 2008 Winter 2009 Spring 2009 Male 2.65- 5.60 3.35- 4.78 2.03- 3.77 3.54-5.72 Female 1.91-2.44 2.66-3.12 1.69- 3.00 3.54- 5.72

It indicated that the river has been polluted by heavy metals which eventually lead to bioaccumulation of those pollutants in the food chain of the

Qurmat-Ali and the effect of sewage and waste product as this was stated by the study of Al-Khafaji (2000), and may be due to the nature of river water (Athayle and Gokhate, 1991). Or may be that the tissue accumulation depends on water concentration, a departure from unity indicates that other factors, such as the abundance of available element forms in water and or food, can affect metal intake and accumulation (Ravera et al., 2007). Among the six metals tested for shrimps male and female, Fe concentration was the highest (141.8 g g -1d.w) in spring for male and Pb was the lowest (2.49 g g-1 d.w) in winter for male. This could be explained

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by the role of those metals as essential or non essential element for aquatic organism. Lower Pb content in the tissue possibly due to its toxicity and are non essential metals to organism (Abdullah et al., 2007).Increasing or decreasing trace metals depend on the metabolic activity when it is relatively less may be attributed to the organisms uptake and elimination rates (Ragragio et al., 2009). A. desmaresti mesopotamica male and female were found to have a large capacity for Fe. Zn, Ni, and Cu intake. Those metals are essential elements for aquatic organisms (Drexler et al ., 2003). Comparatively, lower Pb content was determined in the tissue. Among (Table 1 and 2) the accumulation of trace element in the tissues of males shrimp decreased in the ordered Fe >Zn > Ni > Mn > Cu > Pb, while in females was Fe > Zn > Ni > Cu > Mn > Pb. as shown in the tables. Based on the results, it showed that the magnitude of the studied trace metals accumulation in crustacean's tissue of the studied species depends on the type of trace metals, and the sex of the species. The aquatic organisms usually exhibit high degree of variability in the bioaccumulation of different metals suggest the need for detailed studies involving more species of economic importance in evaluating the general background and toxic levels for utilizing them as indices of pollution.

Conclusion
The findings of this study showed that this crustacean species has a potential to be used as a bio indicator for the contamination of trace metals. It showed that the accumulation of trace metals in the shrimp A. desmaresti mesopotamica depends on the type of metals and organisms sex. Shrimps live on the bottom of water bodies where they burrow in the sand or mud, and they known as in faunal deposit feeder (Han et al., 1996). As a consequence, they are very much exposed to the bottom water suspension and the trace metals accumulated in sediment. This has created a major impact on the accumulation rate of trace metals in those organisms.

References
Abaychi, J.K and Al-Saad, H.T. 1988. Trace elements in fish from the Arabian Gulf and the Shatt Al-Arab River, Iraq. Bull. Environ. Contam. Toxicol., 40: 226 232. Abaychi, J.K and DouAbul, A.A.Z. 1985. Trace metals in the Shatt Al -Arab River, Iraq. Wat. Res., 19(4): 459 462. Abaychi, J.K and Mustafa, T.Z. 1988. The Asiatic calm, Carbicula fluminea: An indicator of trace metals pollution in the Shatt Al -Arab River, Iraq. Environmental Pollution, Series A, 54(2): 109 122. Abdullah, A.T. and Moustafa, M.A. 2002. Accumulation of Lead and Cadmium in the Marine Pros branch Nerita Saxtilies, Chemical Analysis. light and Electron microscopy. Environmental Pollution, 116: 185-191. Abdullah, M.H., Sidi, J.and Aris, A.Z. 2007. Heavy metals(Cd, Cu, Cr, Pb and Zn)in Meretrix meretrix Roding, Water and Sediments from