Pollution characteristics and potential health risk assessment of typical heavy metals in the main fishes of Chaohu Lake

doi:10.14088/j.cnki.issn0439-8114.2025.07.009

Abstract

Abstract: In order to study the content levels, enrichment characteristics and health risks of typical heavy metals in the main fishes of Chaohu Lake, the contents of Cr, Cu, As, Cd, Pb and Hg in different fish tissues were measured by inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometer and atomic fluorescence spectrophotometer, and the potential health risk of heavy metals was evaluated by health risk assessment model. The results showed that the contents of six heavy metal elements in six kinds of fish of Chaohu Lake didn’t exceed the limits of contaminants according to GB 2762—2022 and NY 5073—2006. The average contents of six elements showed the law of Cu>Cr>As>Hg> Pb>Cd. From the perspective of habitat water layers, the concentrations of Cr, Cu, As, Cd and Pb in the muscles of mid-lower water layer fish were higher than those in mid-upper water layer fish, while Hg showed the reverse pattern. In terms of feeding habits, only Hg concentrations in fish muscles followed the order of carnivorous, omnivorous and herbivorous from high to low. For the other five elements, the pattern was carnivorous < omnivorous ≤ herbivorous. The effect of water layer habitat on the enrichment of heavy metals in fishes of Chaohu Lake was greater than that of feeding habits. The enrichment characteristics of heavy metals in fish tissues were various. For example Cr and Pb were mainly distributed in scales, gills and bones, Cu and As were mainly concentrated in liver, Cd was more enriched in kidney, and Hg was mainly accumulated in muscle. The results of health risk assessment showed that the non-carcinogenic health risk of the studied heavy metals in the muscle tissue of Chaohu Lake fishes could be ignored. The carcinogenic health risk of Pb was negligible, while the levels of Cr, As and Cd risk values were acceptable.

Key words: fish, heavy metal, content, pollution characteristics, health risk, assessment, Chaohu Lake

CLC Number:

X52
X171.1

WU Lei, XU Jing, CHEN Qiang, ZHU Wei-wei, YANG Man-yi, CHEN Hong-feng. Pollution characteristics and potential health risk assessment of typical heavy metals in the main fishes of Chaohu Lake[J]. HUBEI AGRICULTURAL SCIENCES, 2025, 64(7): 46-52.

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