The Science of the Total Environment, ! 05 ( 199 i ) 73-85 Elsevier Science Publishers B.V., Amsterdam

73

Atomic absorption spectrometric determination of zinc, copper, and selenium in fish from Lake Tanganyika, Burundi, Africa H. Benemariya, H. Robberecht* and H. Deelstra Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Antwerp (UIA), Universiteitsplein 1, B-2610 Wilrijk, Belgium (Received March 28th, ! 990; accepted June ! 2th, 1990)

a,8$TRACT Atomic absorption spectrometric determination of zinc, copper and selenium in fish fi'om Lake Tanganyika (Burundi) shows that, although this lake is not polluted, trace element intake by fish contributes an important part of the elemental intake by man. No correlations were found between trace element levels in the fish and fish iipict and protein content. Copper and zinc were positively and highly correlated (P < 0.005). lnterspecies comparison for trace element content of fish samples is discussed. Unless the level of water pollution is taken into account, intraspecies variation cannot be evaluated.

INTRODUCTION

The freshwater Lake Tanganyika in northeastern Burundi is the second deepest lake in the world (1470m). Fish from this lake serve as the main source of protein for the population of the four surrounding countries., i.e. Burundi, Tanzania, Zaire and Zambia (Fig. 1). Fish can accumulate significant amounts of trace elements and heavy metals from both water and food (Vukasinovic, 1988; Hodson, 1988). The accumulation, in certain organs (Brooks and Rumsey, 1974), is influenced by many variables: the element itself; its chemical forms (species); the co-presence of other metals (Paulsson and Lundbergh, 1989); fish species; and other characteristics, such as age, site, body size, feeding habits, season and temperature of the w~ter, factors which influence the metabolic rate of the fish (Badsha and Goldspi~k i 1982; Lowe et al., 1985; Szefer and Falandysz, 1985; Wahbeh and Madasneh, 1987; Vukasinovic, 1988). Even muscle type can be of importance (Capelli et al., 1987).

* Author to whom all correspondence should be addressed.

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Atomic absorption spectrometric determination of zinc, copper, and selenium in fish from Lake Tanganyika, Burundi, Africa.

Atomic absorption spectrometric determination of zinc, copper and selenium in fish from Lake Tanganyika (Burundi) shows that, although this lake is no...
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