Cadmium and lead uptake from food by the fish Dicentrarchus labrax

Abstract

Cadmium and lead uptake from the fish food in liver and muscle tissue of sea bass Dicentrarchus labrax were investigated experimentally. The conditions as close as possible to those in natural environment were ensured by this experiment The sea bass was exposed to elevated concentrations of Cd (5.36, 385 and 485 mg kg−1) and Pb (2.58, 25.1 and 238 mg kg−1) in fish food. In fish exposed to these concentrations, a linear metal concentration increase (in liver and muscle tissue) was established during the experiment However, liver and muscle tissue respond differently during metal uptake. Although at the end of the experiment (62 days) Cd concentration was much higher in the liver of exposed fish, bioaccumulation in the muscle tissue was faster. Quite an opposite trend was recorded for lead bioaccumulation. Bioaccumulation of Pb in the liver was faster than in muscle tissue. The results of this experiment confirmed that the liver, as a central organ of metabolic processes, may be a measure of an actual Cd and Pb load of an organism.