Heavy Metal Concentration in Fish Species Sold In Gwagwalada Market, Abuja

Contamination of the aquatic environment with heavy metals has prompted a lot of researches on the effect of heavy metal pollution. Pollutants of the aquatic body can be from industrial wastes, agricultural and geochemical structures, and these affects the quality of water as well as the aquatic species. Fish is one of the aquatic species and its toxic level can be used for estimation of heavy metal pollution. Six choice fish species were analyzed for heavy metal concentration and it was observed they exhibited different pattern of accumulation. Lead was below detection level in most of the fish samples except in sardine fish which was 0.01ppm. The mean concentration of the heavy metals were within the ranges Cu (0.07 0.23ppm), Fe (3.65 6.12ppm), Zn (1.89 3.74ppm) and Mn (0.05 0.40ppm). Tilapia accumulated the highest values of most of the heavy metals while titus showed the lowest values. However, the levels of heavy metals obtained for all the fish samples have not reached level of concern since the values were found to be low when compared with WHO allowable limits in food. Thus the fish species sold in the market at the time of study were safe for consumption.