Monitoring heavy metals contamination in aquatic organisms especially fishes is of paramount consideration as the fishes accumulate metals in their tissues and pose a risk to human health as a result of their daily consumption. The catfish Clarias lazera was collected from Alkhalil sewage lakes (north of Almadina Almonwarrah) and the gills, muscles, liver and kidneys were removed, dried and acid digested for the determination of 8 different heavy metals using ICP-MS. Results showed that Cu was the highest accumulated element in all analyzed fish organs. The study revealed that gills, kidneys, and liver accumulate greater amounts of heavy metals fishes than the muscle tissues. The current study concluded that edible portion (muscles) of C. lazera is currently safe for human consumption but monitoring studies should be continued to record any changes in the accumulation rate.
Key words: Fishes, pollution, metals, inland waters.
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