Heavy metal accumulation in Mullus barbatus, Merluccius merluccius and Boops boops fish from the Aegean Sea, Turkey

The accumulation behaviour of copper, zinc, cadmium and lead concentrations in flesh, gills, liver and gonads of three commercial fish Mullus barbatus, Merluccius merliccius and Boops boops from the Aegean Sea in Turkey have been studied. Copper, zinc and lead concentrations in flesh were found low, while in gonads Cd was found high. Liver showed higher concentration of Cu than other fish organs. Gonads and liver recorded high concentrations of Cd. Liver and gills revealed high levels of Pb as compared to other fish organs. The organs of Boops boops revealed high accumulation of heavy metals as compared to other fishes. Heavy metals in the southern Aegean Sea were found to be higher around Cesme and Fethiye than the northern part. Concentration of heavy metals in the tested organs were within the allowable limit of world levels

Water Quality Observations in the Marine Aquaculture Complex of the Deeba Triangle, Lake Manzala, Egyptian Mediterranean Coast

Coastal aquaculture is faced with extreme variation in water quality. The Deeba Triangle on Lake Manzala is the largest marine coastal aquaculture-producing area on the Egyptian Mediterranean. Samples from 16 ponds were taken during four seasons (2014–2015), to investigate the variation of 12 water quality parameters at that region. We tested the hypothesis that there is no spatial or temporal variation in water quality of the fish ponds. Fish ponds were statistically clustered into three groups (p = 0.0005) coincident with their geographical location. Hypersaline and transparent waters characterized the western ponds; higher dissolved oxygen and higher nutrients characterized the central region. These spatial differences were principally due to variations in salinity and nutrients of the water sources used for irrigation of the ponds and to differences in the aeration management styles. Strong seasonality was seen in water temperature (following air temperature), nutrients, and turbidity (following the seasonal cycles of various water sources from the Lake Manzala and the seasonality of the petrochemical plants effluents close to these ponds). We conclude that municipal effluents significantly affected, spatially and temporally, the quality of the irrigation water used for coastal aquaculture purposes, which consequently might affect fish yield