Ucides cordatus as a bioindicator of environmental quality in an estuary of the APA Costa dos Corais (Alagoas, Brazil) affected by the largest oil spill in Brazil André Vieira Kuhn, Ursulla Pereira Souza, Gislaine V. Lima, Pedro H. C. Pereira, Rafael Garrett Dolatto, Caio Rodrigues Nobre, Marco Tadeu Grassi, Augusto Cesar, Camilo Dias Seabra Pereira, Helen Sadauskas-Henrique

Abstract

The present study evaluated the concentration of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in the muscle of the mangrove crab (Ucides cordatus) to assess the environmental quality of an estuary located in the Costa dos Corais Environmental Protection Area (Alagoas, Brazil), affected by the largest oil spill ever recorded in the country. Specimens (n=14) of U. cordatus were manually collected from the Mundaú-Manguaba Estuarine Lagoon System (MMELS). Muscle samples were removed and stored (-20°C) for subsequent analysis of the 16 priority PAHs designated by the US EPA using gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS). In increasing order of concentration, the PAHs found in the muscle of U. cordatus were: naphthalene, fluorene, dibenzo[a,h]anthracene, benzo[g,h,i]perylene, anthracene, indeno[1,3,3-cd]pyrene, benzo[a]pyrene, benzo[a]anthracene, benzo[k]fluoranthene, chrysene, benzo[b]fluoranthene, phenanthrene, fluoranthene, and pyrene. Only two PAHs (acenaphthene and acenaphthylene) were not detected or quantified. The sum of low molecular weight PAHs was 9.01 ± 5.89 ng g^-1, and the sum of high molecular weight PAHs was 247.55 ± 80.25 ng g^-1. This study demonstrated that the crab specimens collected from MMELS have PAHs concentrations in their muscle. Ucides cordatus is a widely consumed species, and the presence of PAHs in its muscle indicates potential health risks to humans, especially high molecular weight PAHs such as benzo[a]pyrene.