Bioaccumulation of Fe, Zn and Pb in <i>Faviidae</i> and <i>Poritidae </i> corals from Qeshm Island, Persian Gulf, Iran

Abstract

An investigation of 3 heavy metals, including 2 essential (Fe and Zn) and 1 non-essential (Pb) metals was performed, in the skeleton of two coral species, <i>Faviidae</i> and <i>Poritidae</i> from 3 reefs along the Qeshm Island coast of the Persian Gulf. Qeshm Island coast is influenced by anthropogenic activities such as Qeshm refinery, which discharge different amount of heavy metals in the area. Comparison between stations indicated that the maximum level of Fe (309.7 µg/g) and Zn (100.7 µg/g) was found in the corals of PZ and JN respectively. The Results indicated that the concentrations of the heavy metals in the corals were apparently different among the species. Highest level of Pb was determined in <i>Poritidae</i> and the highest concentration of Fe was found in <i>Faviidae</i>. These findings show that the coral species have different ability to bioaccumulate heavy metals from surrounding are even in the same habitat.