Heavy Metal Concentration in Some Fishes from Lake Chad Region in Nigeria

The primary aim of this study was to experiment the levels of concentration of heavy metals in some fishes in the Lake Chad. Three samples of fishes were bought from the fish market and dried to constant weight then acid digested and analysed using Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometer (model Perkin Elmer 3110) for Zinc (Zn), Lead (Pd), Iron (Fe), Mercury (Hg), Nickel (Ni) and Copper (Cu). The levels of these ions were found to be satisfactory for human consumption with highest levels for the ions zinc, lead, iron mercury nickel and copper of 121.15 in molusca, 7.28 in Mackerel, 132.02 in molusca, 0.08 in mulusca, 1.86 in molusca and 1.78 in Mackerel respectively while the lowest values were 98.23 in tilapia, 5.78 in Molusca, 110.00 in tilapia, 0.06 in tilapia, 0.43 in tilapia and 1.05 in tilapia respectively. Though the study revealed the health implication of high levels of various elements such as Cu, Pd and Hg in humans as a breakdown in the nervous system, yet consumers of fishes from this lake are not at risk since the levels are low.