DOI: 10.36347/sjet

Pages: 523-526

Heavy metal effluents from industries have continued to be a major source of concern due to the effect on the environment and the living organisms around the vicinity. Heavy metal concentrations were determined in fish parts (gills, tissues, head and bones) of Eutropius niloticus and Citharinus citharus from Polaku River near the Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) plant in Bayelsa State using atomic absorption spectrophotometer. The results obtained indicated that the heavy metal concentrations in Eutropius niloticus follow the trend: bones>head > gills > tissue, while that of the heavy metal concentrations in Citharinus citharus is head > bones > tissue > gills. The trend of heavy metal concentrations can be represented as: Pb>Ni>Cd for Eutropius niloticus, while that of Citharinus citharus was Pb>Cd>Ni. Citharinus citharus showed bioaccumulation factors of 3.91, 1.35 and 0.83 for Cd, Ni and Pb respectively. Eutropius niloticus showed 3.43, 2.96 and 3.20 for Pb, Ni and Cd respectively. The values of concentrations of these metals in parts per million (ppm) were below the FAO/WHO recommended maximum limits in the fish samples (0.5 ppm for lead (Pb) and cadmium (Cd)). This suggests that the heavy metal concentrations may not be up to the hazardous limit in aquatic habitat and therefore maybe safe for consumers to eat from the stream