Verteilung von Zink, Kupfer und Cadmium in verschiedenen Organen von Plötzen (Rutilus rutilus L .) aus Neckar und Elsenz / Distribution of Zinc, Copper, and Cadmium in Various Organs of Roaches ( Rutilus rutilus L.) from the Neckar and Elsenz Rivers

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Abstract
Zinc, copper and cadmium concentrations in various organs of 30 roadies (Rutilus rutilus L.) from the Neckar and Elsenz Rivers were investigated. The contents of all three metals are elevated in all fishes; however, only Cd in older fishes was found to exceed the tolerance limit for human health in a section of the Neckar River, which until 1973 was heavily contaminated with Cd from industrial wastes. The higher degree of Zn-pollution in the Elsenz River is also clearly expressed in the Zncontents of the Elsenz fishes. The following order of sequence of metal concentrations (independant of the collection area and the degree of contamination) could be observed: Zn and C d: muscle < liver <C kidney Cu : muscle < kidney < liver Our findings demonstrate the importance of fishes as indicator organism for heavy metal contamination. They also clearly implicate that for ecological rather than for human toxicological investigations the organ in which a specific metal tends to preferentially accumulate (p. ex. Zn and Cu in the kidney; Cu in the liver; Pb in the skeleton; Hg in lipids) is the best indicator of that metal. As a consequence specific fish organs should be increasingly used to determine the extent of heavy metal contamination in aquatic systems.

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