Contamination of Heavy Metals in Seafood Marketed from Virar and Bhayender Markets of Suburban Areas of Mumbai

Seafood is the major source of food of large number of people residing in the coastal areas of Maharashtra. Fish samples namely Arius dussumieri, Parastromateus niger, Harpadon nehereus, Dasyatis uranak and Carcharhinus limbatus from Virar Market, and Nemipterus japonicus, Harpadon nehereus, Coilia dussumieri, Johnius sina and Megalaspis cordyla from Bhayender Market were collected directly from the two suburban markets of Mumbai coast. The fish samples were dried in the laboratory and the dried fishes were crushed into a fine powder by mortar and pestle and stored in amber coloured bottles in vacuum desiccators. These samples were later used for determination of the six heavy metals namely zinc, manganese, iron, lead, cadmium and mercury by Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometer. It is reported in the literature that the level of Zn in fishes is generally above the tolerable limits. In the present study it was found that the level of Zn in fishes from Virar and Bhayender markets was also above the tolerable limits. The data for Mn are comparable with the similar data reported by other workers. Iron was the dominant metal measured during the study. From this study, it was found that the concentration of Fe in different species of fishes was quite high as also reported in the earlier literature. Thus, the values of Fe in present study suggest severe contamination in seafood in recent years. The level of Pb, in this study is within tolerance limits. The concentration of Cd in the fishes was far lower than the consumption safety tolerance in fishes set by countries worldwide. According to the results obtained, the Hg level in the fishes was found to be below the tolerance limits. It was also found that the metal ion concentration was having a trend of increasing in winter season as compared to the pre monsoon and monsoon seasons.