Comparison of Heavy Metal Concentrations inTissues of Fish (Silurus triostegus Heckel, 1843, Chalcalburnus tarichi Pallas, 1811, Chondrostoma regium Heckel, 1843, Carassius carassius Linnaeus, 1758) from Polluted and Non-polluted Areas in the Atatürk Dam Lake

In the present investigation, four different fish species were caught from Sitilce, polluted area by both industrial and domestic sources, and Samsat, relatively clean area, in the Atatürk dam lake in August 2013. The concentrations of Cu, Zn, Fe, Cd, Pb, and Cr in gill, liver and muscle tissues of Silurus triostegus, Chalcalburnus tarichi, Chondrostoma regium, and Carassius carassius were determined using Inductively Coupled Plasma Optical Emission Spectrometry (ICP-OES). It was found that the concentrations of metals were significantly affected by the sampling sites and were higher in all samples collected from polluted areas. The maximum metal concentrations in muscle tissues of fish species from Sitilce and Samsat were as follows: 0.75 and 0.18 (Cu); 22.58 and 7.42 (Zn); 27.11 and 7.22 (Fe); 0.09 and Not detected (ND) (Cd), 0.29 and ND (Pb), 0.13 and ND (Cr) μg/g dry wt., respectively. In the present study, it was observed that heavy metal levels were significantly higher in fish muscle tissue from the Sitilce site compared to Samsat site in the Atatürk Dam Lake; however, these levels were below permissible limits