Fish as Bio Indicators in Aquatic Environmental Pollution Assessment: A Case Study in Abu-Rawash Area, Egypt

Abstract

2 Abstract: The objective of this study was to evaluate the toxic impact of wastewater discharge effluent on aquatic environment. Lead, Zinc, Copper and Cadmium were determined in some tissues of sharp toothed African Catfish (Clarias garipinus) and Nile tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus) collected from only two sites and water samples from all six sites. The concentration of heavy metals in water was within the permissible limits for discharge drain water into River Nile (Egyptian law 48/1982). A significant difference between the four metals in different / similar tissues of different / similar species (p<0.05), with the exception of lead / cadmium metal concentration in fish edible part tissues were higher than the permissible levels according to Egyptian Organization for Standardization and Quality Control. Randomly amplified polymorphic DNA technology and Micronucleus test were applied to evaluate the genotoxic effects of wastewater effluent on (Clarias garipinus and Oreochromis niloticus). Results of RAPD and Micronucleus test showed that both wastewater effluents and agriculture drains were genotoxic to fish.