Abstract:

Concentrations of cadmium, lead, copper, chromium and nickel were determined in the gill, liver and muscle of Cyprinus carpio, Barbus capito and Chondrostoma regium caught at 5 stations on the Seyhan river system. Heavy metal concentrations in the tissues tended to vary significantly among stations, and one station thought to be contaminated by hospital effluents showed particularly high metal concentration. Liver and gill tissues showed higher metal concentrations than muscle tissue. The ranges of mean metal concentrations (µg/g d.w.) were as follows: the range of cadmium concentration was 1.26-6.10, 0.96-4.72 and 0.51- 1.67, that of lead was 9.41-44.75, 5.22-37.15 and 2.94-13.73, that of copper was 5.43-58.63, 5.91-201.1 and 3.27-7.35, that of chromium was 1.72-6.10, 0.23-5.35 and 0.36-1.71 and that of nickel was 6.83-28.03, 3.42-27.05 and 1.62-13.35 in the gill, liver and muscle respectively. The concentrations of some metals in some tissues exceeded the acceptable levels for a food source for human consumption. The least contaminated part of the river system was found to be Seyhan Dam, which does not receive significant levels of effluents from industrial and domestic sources in Adana when compared to other stations. The results of this study indicated that the metals present in the river system were taken up by three fishes through food, water and sediment, as all the fish species, regardless of their biological needs, showed high metal concentrations.

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