Heavy metals accumulation in gills and muscles of Mozambique Tilapia (Oreochromis mossambicus) exposed to crude leachate

Objective of this study was to measure heavy metals accumulation in Mozambique Tilapia (Oreochromis mossambicus) exposed to crude leachate. Tilapia was exposed to leachate from municipal landfills at the volume of 2% to 20% v/v for 96 hours. Heavy metals were measured using inductive coupled plasma optical emission spectrometry (ICP-OES) Optima 8300. All heavy metals were higher in the gills compared to the muscles and the concentration was higher in old leachate. The highest element detected in fish gills was Cu (22.72 ± 0.60 mg/kg) followed by Ni (1.66 ± 0.021 mg/kg) and Pb (0.50 ± 0.011 mg/kg). Ni also was highly detected in fish muscle with the mean of 1.32 ± 0.024 mg/kg. Cd was commonly detected in muscle and gills of young and old leachate (0.14 ± 0.01 mg/kg). It was concluded that heavy metals detected pose a risk of metals exposure through Tilapia consumption.