Concentration of Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAHs) in Barbatia helblingii at Bushehr waters

Abstract

Many aquatic organisms are important due to human consumption. Yet some organisms can accumulate pollutants from contaminated environment and transfer them to other organisms or human. Among the mentioned organisms, bivalves have potential to accumulate pollutants because their detoxification system is not well developed. Ark clam (Barbatia helblingii) is a filter feeder and edible bivalve species, which is well distributed in Bushehr shoreline. Coastal waters of Bushehr is potentially contaminated by various contaminants particularly Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAHs) which mainly originate from oil industries and municipal wastewaters. These contaminants may accumulate in Ark clams. In order to study PAHs concentration in B. helblingii about 30 individuals with similar size were collected from 5 stations along Bushehr shoreline. The clam's soft tissues were digested by Soxhlet, extracted with hexane and their PAHs content were analyzed using HPLC (KANUER) system. Results showed that total PAHs content of the clams from Rafael, Sheghab, Abshirinkon, industrial zone and Helyleh were 638.0, 470.7, 140.3, 495.0 and 373.2ng g-1, respectively. Significant correlation was observed between total PAHs concentrations in different stations. Three aromatic rings hydrocarbons constituted the major part of total PAHs. The average total PAHs concentration in the clams was 423.42ng g-1, which was within the range of previous studies in the Persian Gulf or other parts of the world.