Assessment of Heavy Metals Concentration in the Tissue of Black Clam (Villorita cyprinoides) (Gray, 1825) from Aquaculture farms of Ezhikkara Village in Kerala, India

Abstract

Upsurges of heavy metal pollution in aquatic
ecosystem have affected the global aquaculture
sector in different ways. The present study is
focused on the assessment of heavy metals in
Ezhikkara aquaculture farms in Ernakulam district,
Kerala where Vembanadu Lake and the Periyar
River are the major water sources. In Ezhikkara
aquaculture farm the level of heavy metals were
ranked as: sediment>black clam tissue>water. Biota
sediment accumulation factor (BSAF) value and
Bioaccumulation factor (BAF) values illustrate that
water is the major source of accumulation of heavy
metals in the clam tissue. Hg and Cd posed very
high and moderate potential ecological risk (Ei
r) respectively, during the study time in Ezhikkara
aquaculture farms. The recorded concentrations of
As, Cd, Cr, Pb and Hg (0.08 ppm, 0.05 ppm, 4.37
ppm, 0.15 ppm and 0.06 ppm, respectively) in clam
tissue were lesser than the permissible limits
proposed by the EIC of India but were higher than
the limits prescribed by WHO guidelines.