| Abstract: | Heavy metal concentrations (Cd, Co, Cr, Cu, Fe, Mn, Ni, Pb and Zn) were determined in various tissues (hepatopancreas, branchial hearts, salivary gland, gills, genital tract, mantle, arms and skin) of Octopus vulgaris collected from three different contaminated sites in front of Alexandria (Egypt) during 2000. All collected tissues displayed high enrichment factors when compared to ambient levels. Heavy metal concentrations in most tissues displayed significant differences among sites, sizes and sex. This study suggests that hepatopancreas, and to a lesser extent branchial hearts, are better indicators of chronic Cu, Fe, Zn and Cd contamination than edible tissues. The enrichment factor (EF) for heavy metals in the hepatopancreas and in edible tissues allowed discriminating our samples into three main groups; (1) EF?>?55 (Cu), (2) EF ranging from 15 to 7.5 (Fe, Cd and Zn) and (3) EF?
|
