Pollution Indicator Potential of amphipods from Pulicat Lake, Tamil Nadu, South East Coast of India

摘要

Heavy metals are naturally occurring elements that have a high atomic weight and a density at least 5 times greater than that of water. In recent years their concentrations were found to be raised in coastal ecosystems, as a result aquatic organisms were exposed to elevated levels of heavy metals. This study deals with the assessment of heavy metals (arsenic, lead, chromium, cadmium and mercury) in water, sediment and amphipods from four different ecosystems of Pulicat lake. The accumulation of heavy metals in water is high during monsoon and low in summer. Whereas, in sediments and amphipods the level is high in post monsoon and low in summer. In water, lead is high followed by arsenic, chromium, mercury and cadmium. In sediment and amphipods, cadmium were found to be high and mercury at lower rates. The metals enters into the Pulicat lake during monsoon in the waters and deposited during post monsoon seasons into the sediments and finally get accumulated in the body of amphipods.