Abstract
Heavy metal contamination in marine and coastal zones is one of the major
concerns of researchers and environmentalists due to their potential toxicity to
marine life organisms and human health. The main objective of this study was to
assess heavy metals concentration (Cd, Cr, Cu, Mn, Pb, V, Zn) in surface coastal
sediments and soft tissues of Strombus persicus shellfish from selected sampling
sites from Sohar, Saham and A'Seeb coastal areas along the Sea of Oman and
evaluate the ecological risk of metals on marine ecosystem. Concentrations of
metals were determined in the sediments and S. persicus, using inductively
couple plasma membrane spectrophotometer optical emission (ICP-OE) after a
digestion process of MOOPAM protocol. In sediment the order of metals concentrations were found to be as follow Cr > Mn > V> Zn > Cu > Pb > Cd with no general trend in the distribution of metais between the three sites. Cr was as the highest reported metal compared with other metals with value of 562.63 mg/kg dry reported at Sohar. The studied metals showed no ecological risk at all sites except for Cd. For S. persicus the concentration of metals were in the order of Zn > Cu > Mn > Cr> Cd > Pb > V; with no general distribution of
metals among the sites. The highest concentration of Zn was reported at Saham
with value of 77.74 mg/kg dry weight. Cu and Zn were typically low and do not
pose health effect to the consumers. In contrast Cd, Pb and Mn may pose health
effects. Transfer factor indicated that Cd, Cu and Zn accumulated more by S.
persicus from sediments compared to the other metals. Further studies are needed
to be conducted on S. persicus to be used as biomonitor and to understand the
pathway and uptake of metals.