Abstract
Concentrations of cadmium, lead, nickel and vanadium were determined in water, surficial sediments and the muscle of three demersal fish species (Epinephelus coioides, Psettodes erumei and Solea elongate) from 15 sampling sites in the northern part of Persian Gulf. Concentrations of the elements were determined using Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometer. There were no significant differences among the sampling sites in Cd and Pb levels in the sediments. The highest concentrations of Ni and V in sediments were found near the southern coast of Qeshm Iland and Bandar Lengeh. Concentrations of Cd, Pb and Ni in the sediments were notably higher than global baseline values. Nearly in all cases the element concentrations in the sediments were considerably greater than RSA (ROPME Sea Area) and the ERL (Effects Range Low) guidelines. Significant differences among the sampling sites could be found for concentrations of all the four metals in water. The mean Ni, Pb and Cd levels in the water samples were relatively higher than those in some other regions of the Persian Gulf. Except few cases, the mean concentrations of the elements in muscle of the selected fish species were markedly below the international guidelines for human consumption.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Ackermann, F.: 1980, ‘A procedure for correcting the grain size effects in heavy metal analyses of estuarine and coastal sediments’, Environ. Technol. Lett. 1, 518–527.
Anderlini, V. C., Mohammed, O. S., Zerba, M. A., Fowler, S. W. and Mirmand, P.: 1982, ‘Trace metals in marine sediments of Kuwait’, Bull. Environ. Contam. Toxicol. 28, 75–80.
Anon: 1993, Monitoring and Surveillance of Non-radioactive Contaminants in the Aquatic Environment and Activities Regulating the Disposal of Wastes at the Sea. Aquatic Environment Monitoring Report. No. 36, Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, LOWESTOFT, 78 pp.
Anon.: 1995, Water pollution in the Persian Gulf and the Caspian Sea. Payam-e Darya. Shipp. Organiz. Islam. Rep. Iran. 32, 13–20.
Anon: 2001, Water Quality Standards for the Protection of Saltwater Life for List II Substances. UK Marine Special Areas of Conservation (SACs) Project. Available at http://www.ukmarinesac.org.uk/activities/water-quality/wq4_1_2.htm.
Anon.: 2003, Interpreting Results from Additional Water Tests. Alken Murray Corp. Available at http://www.alken-murray.com/TESTS03.htm.
ANZECC: 1992, Australian Water Quality Guidelines for Fresh and Marine Waters, Australian and New Zealand Environment and Conservation Council (ANZECC).
Apte, S. C., Batley, G. E., Szymczak, R., Rendell, P., Lee, R. and Waite, T. D.: 1998, ‘Baseline trace metal concentrations in New South Wales coastal waters’, J. Mar. Freshw. Res. 49(3), 203–214.
Banat, I. M., Hassan, E. S., El-Shahawi, M. S. and 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), 109–116.
Basaham, A. S. and Al-Libaibi, S. S.: 1993, ‘Trace elements in sediments of the Western Gulf’, Mar. Poll. Bull. 27, 103–107.
Barak, N. A. E. and Mason, C. F.: 1990, ‘Mercury, Cadmium and lead concentrations in five species of freshwater fish from eastern England’, Sci. Total Environ. 92, 257–263.
Biksham, G., Subramanian, V. and Griken, R.: 1991, ‘Heavy metal distribution in the Godavari river basin’, Environ. Geol. Water Sci. 17, 117–126.
Biney, C. A. and Ameyibor, E.: 1992, ‘Trace metal concentrations in the pink shrimp Penaeus notialis, from the coast of Ghana’, Water, Air Soil Poll. 63, 273–279.
Blaylock, B. G. and Templeton, W. L.: 1991, Effects of Ionizing Radiation on Aquatic Organisms. NCRP Report No. 109, National Council on Radiation Protection and Measurements, Bethesda.
new Blevins, R. D.: 1985, ‘Metal concentrations in muscle of fish from aquatic ecosystems in east Tennessee, USA’. Water Air Soil Poll. 29, 361–371.
Bonn, B. A.: 1999, Selected Elements and Organic Chemicals in Bed Sediment and Fish Tissues of the Tualatin River Basin, Oregon. Water Resources Investigations Report, U. S. Geological Survey, 61 pp.
Bowen, H. J. M.: 1979, Environmental Chemistry of the Elements. Academic Press, London, 333 pp.
Buchman, M. F.: 1999, NOAA Screening Quick Reference Table, NOAA HAZMAT Report 99-1, Seattle, WA, Coastal Protection and Restoration Division, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. 12 pp.
Bu-Olayan, A. H. and Subrahmanyam, M. N. V.: 1996, ‘Trace metals in fish from the Kuwait Coast using the microwave acid digestion technique’, Environ. Intern. 22(6), 753–758.
Bu-Olayan, A. H., Al-Hassan, R., Thomas, B. V. and Subrahmanyam, M. N. V.: 2001, ‘Impact of trace metals and nutrients levels on phytoplankton from the Kuwait Coast’, Environ. Intern. 26, 199–203.
Carpenter, K. E., Krupp, F., Jones, D. A. and Zajonz, U.: 1997, FAO Species Identification Guide for Fishery Purposes. The Living Marine Resources of Kuwait, Eastern Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates. FAO, Rome, 293 pp.
CCME: 1999, Canadian Sediment Quality Guidelines for the Protection of Aquatic Life: Summary Tables. In: Canadian Environmental Quality Guidelines, Canadian Council of Ministers for the Environment (CCME), Winnipeg.
Clark, R. C. and Brown, D. W.: 1977, Petroleum: Properties and Analyses in Biotic and Abiotic Systems, Effects of Petroleum on Arctic and Subarctic Marine Environments and Organisms. Vol.~1. Nature and Fate of Petroleum. New York, Academic Press, 89 pp.
Clark, G. M. and Maret, T. R.: 1998, Organochlorine Compounds and Trace Elements in Fish Tissue and Bed Sediments in the Lower Snake River Basin, Idaho and Oregon. Water Resources Investigations Report 98-4103, US Geological Survey (USGS), 35 pp.
Coetzee, L., Du Preez, H. H. and Van Vuren, J. H. J.: 2002, Metal Concentration in Clarias gariepinus and Labeo umbratus from the Olifants and Klein Olifant River, Mpumalanga, South Africa: Zinc, Copper, Manganese, Lead, Chromium, Nickel, Aluminium and Iron. Rand Afrikaans University, South Africa, 16 pp.
Collings, S. E., Johnson, M. S. and Leah, R. T.: 1996, ‘Metal contamination of angler – caught fish from the Mersey Estuary’, Mar. Environ. Res. 41(3), 281–297.
Daniel, W.W.: 1977, Introductory Statistics with Applications. Houghton Mifflin, Boston, 158 pp.
Darmono, D. and Denton, G. R. W.: 1990, ‘Heavy metal concentrations in the banana prawn, Penaeus merguiensis, and leader prawn, P. monodon, in the Townsville Region of Australia’, Bull. Environ. Contam. Toxicol. 44, 479–486.
new Francis, B. M.: 1994, Toxic Substances in the Environment, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., New York, 363~pp.
Gardiner, J. and Mance, G.: 1984, Water Quality Standards Arising from European Community Directives, Water Research Center, No. 204.
Gibbs, P. J. and Miskiewicz, A. G.: 1995, ‘Heavy metals in fish near a major primary treatment sewage plant outfall’, Mar. Poll. Bull. 30(10), 667–674.
Gnanadesikan, R.: 1997, Methods for Statistical Data Analysis of Multivariate Observations. 2nd ed., John Wiley & Sons, 384 pp.
Green, R. H.: 1979, Sampling Design and Statistical Methods for Environmental Biologists. John Wiley & Sons, U.S.A. 257 pp.
Grimwood, M. J. and Dixon, E.: 1997, Assessment of Risks Posed by List II Metals of Sensitive Marine Areas (SMAs) and Adequacy of Existing Environmental Quality Standards (EQSs) for SMA Protection. Report to English Nature, 32 pp.
new Gupta, B. N. and Mathur, A. K.: 1983, ‘Toxicity of heavy metals’, Indian J. Med. Sci. 37(12), 236– 240.
Heit, M. and Klusek, C. S.: 1982, ‘The effects of dissecting tools on the trace element concentrations of fish and mussel tissues’, Sci Total Environ. 24, 129–134.
Huss, H. H.: 1994, Assurance of Seafood Quality. FAO Fisheries Technical Paper, Rome, 169 pp.
Juracic, M., Bauman, I. and Pavdic, V.: 1980, ‘Physico-chemical characterisation of recent sediments of the North Adriatic in relation to pollution problems’, Ves. J. Etud. Pollut. Mar. Mediterranee CIESM, Cagliari, 977–982.
Juracic, M., Bauman, I. and Pavdic, V.: 1982, ‘Are sediments the ultimate depository of hydrocarbon pollutions?’, Ves. J. Etud. Pollut. Mar. Mediterranee, Cannes, 83–87.
Kargin, F.: 1996, ‘Seasonal changes in levels of heavy metals in tissues of Mullus barbatus and Sparus aurata collected from Ikenderun Gulf (Turkey)’, Water, Air Soil Poll. 90, 557–562.
Kennish, M. J.: 1992, Ecology of Estuaries: Anthropogenic Effects. CRC Press Boca Raton Ann Arbor, London, 494 pp.
Khalaf, A. N., Al-Jafery, A. R., Khalid, B. Y., Elias, S. S. and Ishaq, M. W.: 1985, ‘The patterns of accumulation of some heavy metals in Barbus grypus (Heckel) from a polluted river’, J. Biol. Sci. Res. Baghdad 16(2), 51–72.
Kinne, O.: 1984, Marine Ecology. Vol. 5, John Wiley & Sons Ltd, Chichester, 618 pp.
Long, S. E. and Martin, T. D.: 1991, Methods for the Determination of Metals in Environmental Samples – Method 200.10 Determination of Trace Elements in Marine Waters by On-line Chelation Preconcentration and Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Revision 1.4, EPA/600/4-91/010, Washington, D.C., 53–175.
Long, E. R., MacDonald, D. D., Smith, S. L. and Calder, F. D.: 1995, ‘Incidence of adverse biological effects within ranges of chemical concentrations in marine and estuarine sediments’, Environ. Manag. 19(1), 81–97.
Long, E. R. and MacDonald, D. D.: 1998, ‘Recommended uses of empirically derived, sediment quality guidelines for marine and estuarine ecosystems’, Human Ecol. Risk Assess. 4(5), 1019–1039.
Ludwig, J. A. and Reynolds, J. F.: 1988, Statistical Ecology: A Primer on Methods and Computing. John Wiley & Sons, New York, 337 pp.
Madany, I. M., Wahab, A. A. A. and Al-Alawi, Z.: 1996, ‘Trace metals concentrations in marine organisms from the coastal areas of Bahrain, Arabian Gulf’, Water, Air Soil Poll. 91, 233– 248.
Maher, W.A.: 1986, ‘Trace metal concentrations in marine organisms from St. Vincent Gulf, south Australia’, Water, Air Soil Poll. 29, 77–84.
Malyarevskaya, A. Y. and Karasina, F. M.: 1991, ‘Variations in levels of heavy metals and total thiamine’, Gidrobiologicheskiy Zhurnal 27(4), 69–74.
Maret, T. R. and Skinner, K. D.: 2000, Concentrations of Selected Trace Elements in Fish Tissues and Streambed Sediment in the Clark Fork-Pend Oreille and Spokane River Basins, Washington, Idaho and Montana, Water Resources Investigations Report, U. S. Geological Survey, 26 pp.
Martincic, D., Kwokal, Z. and Branica, M.: 1990, ‘Distribution of zinc, lead, cadmium and copper between different size fractions of sediments I. The Limski kanal (North Adriatic Sea)’, Sci. Total Environ. 95, 201–215.
Mason, A. Z. and Simkiss, K.: 1983, ‘Interaction between metals and their distribution in tissues of Littorina littoria (L) collected from clean and polluted sites’, J. Mar. Biol. Assess. 63, 661–672.
McCave, I. N. and Syvitski, J. P. M.: 1991, Principles and Methods of Particle Size Analysis. In: J. P. M. Syvitski (ed.) Principles, Methods and Application of Particle Size Analysis. Cambridge University Press, New York. 3–21.
Merian, E.: 1991, Metals and Their Compounds in the Environment Occurrence, Analysis and Biological Relevance. VCH, Weinheim, 704 pp.
Metwally, M. E. S., Al-Muzaini, S., Jacob, P. G. and Bahloul, M.: 1997, ‘Petroleum hydrocarbons and related heavy metals in the near-shore marine sediments of Kuwait’, Environ. Intern. 23(1), 115–121.
new Moore, J. N., Brook, E. J. and Johns, C.: 1989, ‘Grain size partitioning of metals in contaminated coarse-grained river flood plain sediment, Clark Fork River, Montana’, Environ. Geol. Water Sci. 14, 107–115.
Mora, S. D. and Sheikholeslami, M. R.: 2002, ASTP: Contaminant Screening Program; Final Report: Interpretation of Caspian Sea sediment data. Caspian Environment Program (CEP), 27 pp.
Mormede, S. and Davies, I. M.: 2001, ‘Heavy metal concentrations in commercial deep-sea fish from Rockall trough’, Continent. Shelf Res. 21, 899–916.
Morse, J. W., Presley, B. J., Taylor, R. J., Benoit, G. and Santschi, P. H.: 1993, ‘Trace metal chemistry of galveston Bay: Water, sediments and biota’, Mar. Environ. Res. 36, 1–37.
Nauen, C.E.: 1983, Compilation of Legal Limits for Hazardous Substances in Fish and Fishery Products. FAO Fisheries Circular No. 764, Rome, Italy, 102 pp.
NOAA: 1999, Sediment Quality Guideline Developed for the National Status and Trends Program. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). Available at http://response.restoration.noaa.gov/cpr/sediment/SPQ.pdf.
Nussey, G., Van Vuren, J. H. J. and Du Preez, H. H.: 2000, Bioaccumulation of Chromium, Manganese, Nickel and Lead in the Tissues of the Moggel, Labeo umbratus (Cyprinidae), from Witbank Dam, Mpumalanga. Rand Afrikaans University, South Africa, 16 pp.
Paez–Osuna, F., Perez – Gonzalez, R., Izaguirre – Fierro, G., Zaazueta – Padilla, H. M. and Flores – Campana, L.M.: 1995, ‘Trace metal concentrations and their distribution in the lobster Panulirus inflatus (Bouvier, 1895) from the Mexican pacific coast’, Environ. Poll. 90(2), 163–170.
Patin, S. A.: 1982, Pollution and Biological Resources of the Oceans, Mansell, Witham, Essex, U. K., 287 pp.
Patin, S. A.: 1997, Ecological Problems of Oil and Gas Resource Developments on Marine Shelf. Moscow: VNIRO, 350 pp.
Pourang, N., Tanabe, S., Rezvani, S. and Dennis, J. H.: (in press), Trace elements accumulation in edible tissues of five sturgeon species from the Caspian Sea. Environ. Monit. Assess.
Presley, B. J., Trefry, J. H. and Shokes, R. F.: 1980, ‘Heavy metal inputs to Mississippi Delta sediments’, Water Air Soil Poll. 13, 481–494.
Price, A. R. G., Downing, N., Fowler, S. W., Hardy, J. T., Le Tissier, M., Mathews, C. P., McGlade, J. M., Medley, P. A. H., Oregioni, B., Readman, J. W., Roberts, C. M. and Wrathall, T. J.: 1994, The 1991 Gulf War: Environmental Assessments of IUCN and Collaborators. IUCN, Gland, Switzerland, 48 pp.
Radojević, M. and Bashkin, V. N.: 1999, Practical Environmental Analysis. The Royal Society of Chemistry, U.K., 466 pp.
Rainbow, P. S., Phillips, D. J. H. and Depledge, M. H.: 1990, ‘The significance of trace metal concentrations in marine invertebrates’, Mar. Poll. Bull. 21, 321–324.
Rashed, M. N.: 2001, ‘Monitoring of environmental heavy metals in fish from Nasser Lake’, Environ. Intern. 27, 27–33.
Rees, D. G.: 1991, Essential Statistics. Chapman and Hall, London, 258 pp.
ROPME: 1999, Regional Report of the State of the Marine Environment. Regional Organization for the Protection of The Marine Environment (ROPME), Kuwait, 220 pp.
Rosman, K. J. R., De Laeter, J. R., and Chegwidden, A.: 1982, ‘Determination of Ag, Cd, Pb, Zn, and Pb in seawater by thermal ionization isotope dilution mass spectrometry’, Talanta 29, 279–283.
new Sadiq, M., Zaidi, T. H. and Shekheldin, S.: 1995, ‘Concentration of metals of health significance in commonly consumed shrimps in the eastern province of Saudi Arabia’, J. Environ. Sci. Health A30(1), 15–30.
Saeed, T., Al-Yakoob, S., Al-Hashash, H. and Al-Bahloul, M.: 1995, ‘Preliminary exposure assessment for Kuwaiti consumers to polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in seafood’, Environ. Intern. 3, 255–263.
Salomons, W. and Förstner, U.: 1984, Metals in Hydrocycle. Springer-Verlag, New-York Berlin Heidelberg, 349 pp.
Sericano, J. L. and Pucci, A. E.: 1982, ‘Cu, Cd, and Zn in Blanca Bay surface sediments, Argentina’, Mar. Poll. Bull. 13, 429–431.
Sheppard, C.: 1993, ‘Physical environment of the Gulf relevant to marine pollution: An overview’, Mar. Poll. Bull. 27, 3–8.
Sokal, R. R. and Rohlf, F. J.: 1981, Biometry. 2nd edition. Freeman and Co., San Francisco, California, 859 pp.
Steel, R. G. D., Torrie, J. H. and Dickey, D. A.: 1997, Principles and Procedures of Statistics. A Biometrical Approach, 3rd ed., McGraw-Hill, Publisher, 672 pp.
Tariq, J., Jaffar, M. and Ashraf, M.: 1994, ‘Distribution of trace metals in sediment and seawater from the continental shelf of Pakistan’, Ind. J. Mar. Sci. 23, 147–151.
new Tessier, A., Campbell, P. G. C. and Bisson, M.: 1982, ‘Particulate trace metal speciation in stream sediments and relationships with grain size: Implications for geochemical exploration’, J. Geochem. Explor. 16, 77–104.
UNEP: 2003, The Environment in the News. United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). Available at http://www.unep.org/cpi/briefs/Brief24March.doc.
Vigh, P., Mastala, Z. and Balogh, K. V.: 1996, ‘Comparison of heavy metal concentration of Grass Carp (Ctenopharyngodon idella Cuv. et Val.) in a shallow eutrophic lake and a fish pond (possible effect of food contamination)’, Chemosphere 32(4), 691–701.
Weimin, Y., Ahsanullah, M. and Batley, G. E.: 1993, ‘Accumulation and regulation of heavy metals by the intertidal snail Polinices sordidus’, Mar. Biol. 116, 417–422.
Wright, D. A.: 1995, ‘Trace metal and major ion interactions in aquatic animals’, Mar. Poll. Bull. 31, 8–18.
Zar, J. H.: 1999, Biostatistical Analysis, 4th Edition, Prentice-Hall, Inc. Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, 718 pp.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Pourang, N., Nikouyan, A. & Dennis, J.H. Trace Element Concentrations in Fish, Surficial Sediments and Water from Northern Part of the Persian Gulf. Environ Monit Assess 109, 293–316 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10661-005-6287-9
Received:
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10661-005-6287-9