Concentrations of Copper and Zinc in Benthic Invertebrates Collected from the Tigris River at Baghdad City

The present study aims to assess the concentrations of Copper and Zinc in collected benthic invertebrates from Tigris River. Four stations were chosen on Tigris River along Baghdad City, the samples were collected every 60 days from November 2010 to September 2011. The benthic invertebrates which collected were: Bivalves: Corbiculla fluminalis, Gastropods:Melanopsis nodosa, Theodoxusis jordani and Physa gyrina, Oligocheates: aquatic worm, and dragon flies nymphs. The annual concentration of Cu in C. fluminalis soft tissue was 96.45 µg/g, while in the shell was 10.35µg/g. The Zn concentration in soft tissue was 201.7 µg/g, while in the shell was17.8 µg/g. In M. nodosa soft tissue had Cu concentration of 64.0µg/g, while the shell had 6.1µg/g. On other hand, Zn concentration in soft tissue was 297.5 µg/g, and in the shell was 21.1 µg/g., While in the T. jordani the concentration of Cu was 24.2 µg/g and the Zn concentration was 62.35 µg/g. Whereas in P. gyrina it found that the concentration of Cu was 32.4 µg/g, while the concentration of Zn was 76.2 µg/g. Aquatic worm had the concentration of Cu 127.0 µg/g and for Zn was 277.2 µg/g. The concentration of Cu and Zn were undetectable in Dragon flies nymphs that collected in spring and autumn. The benthic invertebrates, oligochaetes had the highest concentration of Cu, while M. nodosa had the highest Zn among the collected benthos, while soft tissue of bivalve C. fluminalis had the highest concentration of Cu and Zn than gastropods except soft tissue of M. nodosa. Depend on the statistical analysis results the soft tissues of bivalves and gastropods had higher concentrations of Cu and Zn than the concentration in the shell. In general, the Zn concentrations in all collected organisms were higher than Cu concentrations. 

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