Assessment of the Metal Uptake and Accumulation in Fishes Living in Polluted Water of Abuloma River, Rivers State, Nigeria

Some heavy metals - lead, manganese, copper, nickel, zinc, chromium, iron, cadmium, cobalt and arsenic (Pb, Mn, Cu, Ni, Zn, Cr, Fe, Cd, Co and As) contents in selected fishes from Abuloma River in Rivers State of Nigeria was studied after dry ashing using the Flame Atomic Absorption Spectrometric technique. From the analysis, Pb, Zn and Fe were identified in all the fish samples with concentration range of 0.024-0.160 μg/g (Pb); 0.246-2.779 μg/g (Zn) and 0.346-1.047 μg/g (Fe). Ni, Cd and Co were not detected in the fish samples. Mn, Cu, Cr and As were found in some of the fish samples with the concentration range of 00.144 μg/g (Mn); 0-0.276 μg/g (Cu); 0-0.063 μg/g (Cr) and 0 - 9.167 μg/g (As). The concentration observed for As, was far higher than the recommended permissible limits by Food and Agricultural Organisation; which is 0.002 μg/g. The pollution index (Pi) analysis indicates a very high index for As in Mullet fish (1194.5), Sika fish (3222) and Stock fish (4583.5); while the Pi for Pb > 1 also indicates severe pollution. Hence, these fish species from Abuloma River could be considered as unfit for consumption