Mudskippers a good bioindicator for polluted soils in the mudflat region of southern Iraq

Abstract

Mudskippers are good biological guide to marine pollution because they are endemic to the coastal areas of water that considered to be the original environment of life. Therefore, the area of Iraq's mudflats are affected by pollutants that reaching a narrow zone of Iraq and neighboring countries which regarded as oil activities area that directly affecting fishes due to increasing the likelihood of hydrocarbon accumulation. Besides, there are large ports of loading platforms nearby as well as this area regarded as a fishing ground. In the current study, hydrocarbons were analyzed using the mudskipper samples that were divided into three groups according on their length, which ranged from 11-16 cm, 17.5-19.5 cm and 20-23 cm, respectively, and the fishes were divided into three groups of weight; 7.13-17.33 g, 18.6-25.33 g and 26.7-36.6 g. Pollutant accumulation is a very reliable sign of environmental contamination. the ratio of Anthracene/(Anthracene+Phenanthrene) measured more than 0.1 (0.52, 0.62, 1.57) is in agreement with the combustion origin, Fluoranthene/(Fluoranthene +Pyrene) measured more than 0.35 which is in agreement with the prospect of petroleum input, and finally, the ratio of BaA/(BaA+Chry) measured about 0.16 in the third group which is attributable to cool combustion.