Heavy metal concentrations in common freshwater snails of Azraq Oasis, Jordan

Abstract

Heavy metal concentrations in three freshwater snails, an aquatic plant, sediment, and water from Azraq Oasis pools in the Jordanian desert were measured by atomic absorption spectrophotometry. There were significant differences in metal accumulation among snail species. These snails are ranked according to their metal accumulation capacity in the order: Melanoides tuberculata>Melanopsis praemorsa> Theodoxusjordani. Although there were no significant differences among the size classes of these snails in metal concentrations, larger snails contained generally higher levels of metals than the smaller ones. The concentration factors for the selected snails exceeded 103, while it ranged from 0.1-10.2 x 103 for Typha angustata plants. Among sampling sites, metal concentrations in M. praemorsa, T. angustata, sediment, and water were not significantly different, except for Fe in M. praemorsa which was highest at station 3, and Cd and Cr which were highest in water and sediment of station 4. The seasonal variation in metal content was found to be species and metal-dependent.