p. 249 - 257

TRACE METALS IN CERTAIN CRUSTACEANS FROM LEBANON
- A REVIEW 

John G. Shiber
c/o ICS, Apartado 271, La Cala, Estepona (Malaga), Spain

Abstract 
Pachygrapsus transversus, Eriphia verrucosa, Palaemon elegans,
Panaeus japonicus and Scyllarides latus, colected from various
locations on the coast of Lebanon between July 1977 and May 1978,
were analysed for trace elements. Cadmium, cooper and zinc 
concentrations in all were similar to levels reported in species
from other areas, whereas nickel, lead and chromium appeared to be
higher. Of the five crustaceans, the prawns had the highest average 
copper levels. In fact, cooper was generally higher in the prawns
than in any of the organisms which were analysed at different times
during this series of studies, including other invertebrates, fish
and algae. The metal levels seen in these crustaceans suggest that
some contamination might exist here and warrant futher more extensive
studies of this nature in the eastern Mediterranean area.