P. NIMISHA AND S.SHEEBA
Abstract
All aquatic organisms need very low quantities of heavy metals. At optimum concentration they are beneficial and beyond that limit it causes deleterious effects on the ecosystems. The present study has brought out the amount of heavy metals such as Cd, Cu, Pb, Zn and Cr in the different fishery resources collected from four different stations of Periyar river during the period January 2009 to December 2009. Heavy metals such as Cd, Cu, Pb and Zinc were above permissible limit and Cr was below detection limit at almost all the stations. The statistical analysis showed significant or insignificant differences. The contamination of these heavy metals in fishes may cause significant health risks, if they enter human food chain.