Studies on the Post-mortem Identification of the Pollutant in the Fish Killed by Water Pollution-V

Detection of Copper in the Fish

Abstract

In this research, it was tried to determine the quantity of copper in the fish body. The quantity of copper was determined by the Sodium-Diethyl-Dithiocarbamate method. A normal fish contented copper that was less than 2.2γ/g per body weight and was 1.35γ/g on an average. (Table 1) The excessive copper content was regarded as follows:-
Excessive copper content Determined copper content -2.2(γ/g)
After a fish was died in various concentrations of CuSO₄ within 48 hours, copper content in its fish body was determined at once or after washing in running tap water for 24 hours. According to these experiment, it was possible to detect the excessive copper content in every case. (Table 3)
Post-mortem identification of copper in the bodies of fishes killed by acidic-copper-plating and alkaline-copper-plating solutions was possible too. In case of a brass-plating solution, however, it was possible in higher concentrations, but often impossible in lower concentrations. But even in case of the low concentrations, CN was detected from the fish body killed in it. (Table 6, 7, 8)