Tissue Specific Heavy Metals Uptake in Economically Important Fish, Cyprinus carpio at Acute Exposure of Metals Mixtures

The main objective of this study was to check the tissue-specific accumulation of heavy metals (Pb, Co and Cd) in the form of mixtures in 180-day old Cyprinus carpio (common carp) during the 96-h exposure period. The four waterborne heavy metals mixtures viz., Pb-Cd, Pb-Co, Co-Cd and Pb-Co-Cd were selected for these experiments to assess the acute toxicity (in terms of 96-h LC50 and lethal concentrations) and bio-accumulation patterns in various tissues of C. carpio. Toxicities of four metals mixtures followed the order: Co-Cd > Pb-Cd > Pb-Co > Pb-Co-Cd; Co-Cd > Pb-Co > Pb-Cd > Pb-Co-Cd for 96-h LC50 and lethal concentration exposures, respectively. Significant differences were observed for the accumulation of metals in selected fish tissues. Amassing of heavy metals in various tissues of fish followed the order: kidney > liver > gills > skin > muscles. In conclusion, results revealed higher level of all selected metals in kidney and liver of C. carpi while muscles showed least tendency for accumulation. However, the overall load of metals mixtures for their accumulation in fish followed the order: Pb-Co-Cd > Pb-Co > Pb-Cd > Co-Cd. Therefore, it is necessary to control the use of heavy metals because they are posing hazardous impacts to aquatic fauna which ultimately leads to serious human health concern.