Inferring Class of organisms in the Central-East Atlantic from eco-toxicological characterization

Abstract All marine organisms bio-accumulate metals and trace elements in a different way, and there are great differences depending on the level of taxonomic classes. A total of 660 samples of 22 species of different taxonomic class types have been used for this study, all samples were measured with atomic emission spectrometry with inductively coupled plasma (ICP-OES), the mammalian class has the highest concentration of Zn (17.215 ± 13.750 mg/kg w.w) and of Fe (86.215 ± 49.495 mg/kg w.w), these values being much higher than the other classes, and the cephalopods have the highest concentration in heavy metals such as Cd (0.963 ± 1.056 mg/kg w.w) and Pb (0.466 ± 0.909 mg/kg w.w). All the classes presented significant differences among each other, each class presents some ranges of each metal different to the other classes. Based on the present study, the ecological preferences and the taxonomical classification give differential metal content patterns for marine organisms, thus showing the importance of this study for the preparation of environmental plans to check the state of the marine ecosystem.