TITLE:
Water Quality and Heavy Metal Monitoring in Water, Sediments, and Tissues of the African Catfish Clarias gariepinus (Burchell, 1822) from the River Nile, Egypt
AUTHORS:
Alaa G. M. Osman, Werner Kloas
KEYWORDS:
Water Quality, Sediment, River Nile, Clarias gariepinus, Heavy Metals, Aquatic Pollution
JOURNAL NAME:
Journal of Environmental Protection,
Vol.1 No.4,
December
28,
2010
ABSTRACT: Water quality of the river Nile and trace elements of the water, sediments and fish tissues were investigated in the current work. Eighteen different sampling points were selected along the whole course of the River Nile from its spring at Aswan to its estuaries at Rosetta and Damietta. Higher mean value of conductivity, alkalinity, chemical oxygen demand (COD), total organic carbon (TOC), ammonia (NH3), nitrate (NO3), total solid (TS), sulphate (SO4), chloride (Cl), orthophosphate were recorded in the water of Damietta and Rosetta branches comparing to other sites. Also trace metals in the water, sediments and tissues of Clarias gariepinus increased significantly (P Fe > Cu > Pb > Mn > Cr> Cd > Hg. In the gill tissues theses metals were accumulated in the following order Fe > Zn > Mn > Pb > Cr > Cu > Cd> Hg. The low accumulation of metals in muscle may be due to lack of binding affinity of these metals with the proteins of muscle. This is particularly important because muscles contribute the greatest mass of the flesh that is consumed as food.