Trace Metal Accumulation in Tissue of Sea Cucumber Species; North-Western Sea of Sri Lanka

The presence of copper (Cu), iron (Fe), zinc (Zn), lead (Pb), cadmium (Cd), cobalt (Co), chromium (Cr) and mercury (Hg) has been studied in ten sea cucumber (Holothurians) species in the Northwestern sea of Kalpitiya and Dutch Bay area (Sri Lanka) during October- November 2008 and 2009. The concentration of in holothurians body wall have been found to range from 1.84-9.18 mg/kg (Cu), 5.03-56.68 mg/kg (Fe), 3.68-24.38 mg/kg (Zn), <0.04-4.70 mg/kg (Cr), 0.04-2.29 mg/kg (Pb), 41.62-128.93 μg/kg (Cd), 0.07-0.25mg/kg (Co) and 24.63-445.69 μg/kg (Hg) in dry weight basis. The results show that, according to European legislation, the body wall of holothurians is generally “safe”, although the high levels of iron in all holothurians are noticeable.