Journal Article

Levels of Heavy Metals in Some Fish Samples in River Wupa Located in Jabi District of Abuja, Nigeria

Abstract

The study was a research on three fish samples; Tilapia zilli, Sardina Pilchards and Chrysichtyys nigrodigatatus organs. The concentration of seven heavy metals were probed in the fish organs; flesh and head by atomic absorption Spectrophotometry. The metals: zinc, lead, nickel, cobalt, iron, manganese, and cadmium were found to be significantly present in the samples. The result of this study showed that samples contain metals ranging 0.31 ± 0.05 µg/g (Fe), 0.05 ± 0.07 µg/g (Cr) and 0.12 ±0.05 µg/g (Co) for Tilapia zilli, flesh and Sardina pilchards and Chrysichtyys nigrodigatatus respectively. This study has shown that the samples generally have higher concentration of the metals during dry season than the rainy season. Consequently, the samples investigated were implicated to be polluted and continuous consumption might predispose consumers to health complications as metals could bioaccumulate.

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