Contamination of Sarotherodon Melanotheron by Lead, Zinc and Copper: case of PORTO-NOVO lagoon, South of the Republic of Benin

Abstract

Pollution of lakes and lagoons is today in Africa a true environmental problem that has negative consequences and sometimes irreversible damage to aquatic ecosystems. These consequences have repercussions on the very serious human health. In Benin fishing mainland is about 75% of the national fish production accounts for nearly 31% of the national consumption of animal protein. Fishing products in general and fish in particular are very important foodstuffs and anything that affects these products has direct repercussions on the food chain. Indeed caught fish in our rivers have high levels of heavy metals such as lead, mercury, etc. This is a very serious danger to the trophic chain. The objective of this study is to assay the trace metal elements such as lead, copper and zinc can make a comparative study of the levels of heavy metals in pulpit fresh fish. Atomic absorption spectrophotometric method was used for the determination of lead content in fish Sarotherodon melanotheron. Mineralization following the protocol HACH and the determination of content of lead, copper, and zinc in the pulpit fresh fish were performed. The analyzes showed that the average levels of trace elements measured are very high and range from 1.71 mg / kg and 4.96 mg / kg; far exceeding the maximum tolerable set by WHO is 0 , 3 mg / kg.