title: Effects on heavy metal accumulation in freshwater fishes: species, tissues, and sizes.
abstract: Three fish species (Carassius auratus, Pelteobagrus fulvidraco, and Squaliobarbus curriculus) were collected from Xiang River near Changsha City, Southern China. The concentrations of heavy metals including arsenic (As), cadmium (Cd), copper (Cu), iron (Fe), manganese (Mn), lead (Pb), and zinc (Zn) in the muscle, gill, and liver of three species were determined by the inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry method. One-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) was introduced to determine the significant variations (p < 0.05) of heavy metals. Livers were found to accumulate Cd and Cu due to the metallothionein proteins. High levels of Mn and Pb in the gills indicated that the main uptake pathway of these heavy metals was from the water. The carnivorous species, P. fulvidraco, was found to accumulate the highest levels of toxic elements (As, Cd, and Pb), while relatively high concentrations of nutrient elements (Cu, Fe, Mn, and Zn) were accumulated in omnivorous species (C. auratus and S. curriculus). According to the results of Pearson's correlation analysis, there were few significant relationships at p < 0.01 level between the concentrations of the analyzed elements and the fish sizes. The results of risk assessment indicated that exposure to the toxic heavy metals from fish muscle consumption posed no non-carcinogenic health risk to local inhabitants.
authors.affiliation: College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Central South University, Changsha, 410083, China.
authors.forename: Yuyu
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Jia
authors.affiliation: College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Central South University, Changsha, 410083, China. linwang@csu.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Lin
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-0778-4472
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Central South University, Changsha, 410083, China.
authors.forename: Zhipeng
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Qu
authors.affiliation: College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Central South University, Changsha, 410083, China.
authors.forename: Chaoyi
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Central South University, Changsha, 410083, China. zgyang3@gmail.com.|Center for Environment and Water Resources, Central South University, Changsha, 410083, China. zgyang3@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Zhaoguang
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Yang
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002681:China; D004784:Environmental Monitoring; D005399:Fishes / Q000378:metabolism; D005618:Fresh Water; D000075322:Heavy Metal Poisoning; D019216:Metals, Heavy; D011041:Poisoning; D045483:Rivers / Q000737:chemistry; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical
chemical_list: D019216:Metals, Heavy; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical
keywords: Carnivorous fish; Habitat; Heavy metals; Omnivorous fish; Risk assessment