Heavy metal bioaccumulation of the characiform Brycon falcatus Muller & Troschel, 1844 in the Teles Pires basin, Southern Amazon

Abstract

The Teles Pires River basin is located in an area of the Southern Amazon where discharge of tannery effluents and intense agricultural activity occurs. These activities increase the risk of contamination by runoff and leaching of pesticides and heavy metals. This study presents the concentration and bioaccumulation of heavy metals copper (Cu) and total chromium (Cr) in matrinxã (Brycon falcatus), a species of fish highly consumed in the region. Liver and muscle tissue was analyzed from 41 samples of B. falcatus collected during the dry season in 2013 from the Teles Pires River basin. Considering that bioaccumulation is the progressive increase in the amount of a substance in an organism or part of an organism, copper bioaccumulation in liver samples from B. falcatus was verified. Cr and Cu concentrations were higher in the liver than in the muscle tissue of fish collected in all rivers. The highest concentrations of Cr in the liver were observed in fish collected from the Teles Pires River (1.87 μg∙g^-1) and the Celeste River (1.06 μg∙g^-1). The highest concentrations of Cu in the liver were observed in fish collected from the Cristalino River (44.20 μg∙g^-1) and the Teles Pires River (34.77 μg∙g^-1). The high concentration of Cu in the livers of fish collected from the Teles Pires river basin reflects the economic activities of mining and agriculture in the surrounding areas of this basin.