Carpathian Journal of Earth and Environmental Sciences

The understanding of the bioaccumulation phenomenon of heavy metals in the living substance is of an extreme complexity. This is due to the interpenetration of several parameters which influence this bioaccumulation such as: the physico-chemical characteristics of the study area, the chemical properties of the contaminant and the biologic factors of the organism. This work constitutes, using Mytilus edulis as bioindicator, a contribution to study the metal contamination at different points of the mouth of Sebou's estuary. The samples were collected during the spring and the summer of the year 2005. The obtained results reveal a contamination of the study area by all the measured metals especially by lead, cadmium and chromium. This study allowed also discerning the existence of a variation in the accumulation of heavy metals according to Mytilus edulis size, as it was reported in the literature. Indeed, it showed that the small mussels accumulate heavy metals more than the big, mainly for manganese, chromium and cadmium. Seven trace metals (Mn, Cu, Cr, Pb, Co, Fe and Cd) were detected in the four studied organs (hepatopancreas, gills, gonads and muscle); the variations was least or more significant according to the organ. So, we conclude that the bioaccumulation does not make in a strictly selective way.