Assessment of Heavy Metals in Philippine Green Mussels Perna viridis and Level of Coliform on Manila Bay Adjacent to the Coastline of Sipac Almacen, Navotas Philippines

There have been no published data reports up to date regarding the heavy metal concentration on both the green mussels Perna viridis and total coliform level from Manila bay adjacent to Sipac Almacen, Navotas Philippines. Hence, this study aimed to provide a recent status on the concentration of heavy metals (Cd, Cr, Pb, and Hg) in the muscular tissues of P. viridis and coliform level from Manila Bay, Philippines. Specimen samples were collected on February 22, 2019, almost 1000 m away from the coastline, immediately brought to the laboratory, morphologically identified, dissected for muscles, and subjected to heavy metal and coliform testing. Tissue samples of P. viridis and sediment samples from Manila bay were subjected to Flame-AAS (atomic absorption spectrophotometry) method for detecting and quantifying heavy metals such as total cadmium (Cd), total chromium (Cr), and total lead (Pb) while the analysis of total mercury (Hg) were done using the Cold Vapor-AAS method. With reference to a previous study, the sediment and P. viridis from this study obtained a lower total Cd, Cr, and total Pb while total Hg concentration is below the resulting limit. The water sample was subjected to multiple fermentation technique to identify the coliform level which shows a high-level result of 1.6 X 103 that is far from the 3000 value set by DAO 2016-08 for SB water body category. The physicochemical analyses on the bay show no value of ecological concern. P. viridis in Manila Bay did not exhibit any serious deformities