Bioaccumulation and Bioconcentration Factor of Heavy Metals in the Tissues of Freshwater Fish Channa punctatus Collected from Sawan Nallaha, Balrampur, Uttar Pradesh, India

Abstract

Heavy metal pollution in aquatic environment has a significant adverse effect on fishes and also to the human being. The present investigation was designed to assess the concentrations of heavy metals in water and fish, Channa punctatus of Sawan Nallaha, a tributary of River Rapti in Balrampur, Uttar Pradesh, India. The different water samples were collected from the Sawan Nallaha, downstream the city of Balrampur, and analyzed for the selected heavy metals by atomic absorption spectrophotometry. The concentration of heavy metals in Sawan Nallaha was below the permissible limit of Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS). Heavy metal accumulation and bioconcentration factor were studied in gill, liver, kidney and muscles of fish, Channa punctatus inhabiting the Sawan Nallaha. The order of bioaccumulation of different metal concentrations in fish was: Ni >Pb>Mn> Zn > Cr > Cu>Cd and the order of total observed metal concentration in tissues was Liver> Kidney>Gill> Muscles. The results of Bioconcentration Factor (BCF) showed that fish, Channa punctatus has the ability to accumulate heavy metals in its tissues. As illustrated in BCFs, most of the heavy metals moderately bioaccumulate except nickel and lead which are highly accumulative. The fish, Channa punctatus in this study was used as biomonitoring indicator