Qualitative and quantitative analize of PAHs in Esox lucius of Anzali Lagoon

Subject Areas : Marine Biology

L. Salimi ¹ , A. Motalebi ² , A. Mehdinia ³ , S. Ghorbani ⁴

1 - Marine pollution control and environment protection Dept., Faculty of Marine Science & Tecnology , Islamic Azad University Tehran North Branch
2 - Iranian Fisheries Research Organization (IFRO), Tehran
3 - Iranian National, Center for Oceanography (INCO), Tehran
4 - Marine Biology Dept., Faculty of Marine Science &Technology, Islamic Azad University North Tehran Branch

Received: 2011-05-22 Accepted : 2011-11-21 Published : 2011-12-21

Keywords: pollution, Caspian Sea, Anzali lagoon, Esox lucius, PAHs,

Abstract :

Concentrations of PAH’s known as carcinogenic compositions were studied in the muscle of Pike fishes (Esox lucius) in Iranian international wetland of Anzali in year 2010. Fifteen samples were taken at three stations of Mahruzeh, Koumeh Aghajani and Siah darvishan in dry (early September) and wet (early December) seasons. Some environmental parameters like pH, dissolved oxygen and water temperature were also measured at the same time. Biometry and age determination were done for each sample prior to their preparation for measurement of PAH’s concentrations using HPLC method. Acenaphtene with the concentration of (31.9 ± 11.37 ppb) and Benzo[a]pyrene with (0.2 ± 0.1 ppb) were the highest and lowest recorded concentrations in each season respectively. In both seasons, significant negative correlations (P<0.05) were observed between Naphthalene and Acenaphtene with fish age (2 year and under 1 year) and also between Benzo[b]fluoranthene and Benzo[ghi]perylene with dissolved oxygen. In both seasons, significant correlation were observed between dissolved oxygen and pH with PAH’s while  between PAH’s and fish weight it was significant only in cold season (P<0.05).Considering the 52.63 ppb (dry weight) as the highest measured concentration of PAH’s in this study and 30 µg/kg (wet weight) as the maximum allowable contamination level for aquatic organisms it can be concluded that the PAH’s concentration in Pike’s muscle is almost within the allowable limit in Anzali Wetland.