Assessment of Heavy Metals and Speciated Organometallic Compounds in Tilapia guineensis, Sarotherodon melanotheron and Liza falcipinnis Found in Choba River (New Calabar River), Rivers State, Nigeria

Abstract

The fleshy part of blackchin tilapia (Sarotherondon melanotheron), guinean tilapia (Tilapia guineensis), and mullet (Liza falcipinnis) in Choba river were collected and analyzed for the presence of cadmium, mercury, arsenic, lead, nickel and speciated organometallic compounds using X-ray fluorescence (XRF) and Gas chromatography-mass spectrometer (GC-MS) respectively. The results obtained showed that of all the elements cadmium in Sarotherodon melanotheron had the highest concentration (4.3mg/kg). The fish species all contained about the same concentration of arsenic (0.5mg/kg) and mercury (1mg/kg). The highest concentration of lead was found in mullet (1.7mg/kg) while the highest concentration of nickel (7.3mg/kg) was found in Sarotherodon melanotheron. The organometallic compounds detected were nickel tetracarbonyl, borane carbonyl in Tilapia guineensis, nickel tetracarbonyl, borane carbonyl and germanium (iv) pthalocyanine dichloride in Sarotherodon melanotheron and [\(\mu\)-(\(\eta^6\)-benzene)] bis (\(\eta^5\)-2,4-cyclopentadien-yl) di-µ-hydrodi-vanadium and borane carbonyl in mullet.