ABSTRACT
This work aimed to assess the selected fish species with respect to their content of pesticide residues. The investigated fish included Caranx, Red mullet, crabs, clams, Sole of Qaroun Lake, Sole of Bardawil Lagoon and catfish. The results indicated the presence of 15 components of organochlorine pesticides; namely, alpha-benzene hexachloride [alpha-BHC], gamma-benzene hexachloride + beta-benzene hexachloride [gamma-BHC + beta-BHC], heptachlor, aldrin, heptachlorepoxide, gamma-chlordane, alpha-chlordane, 1,1-dichloro-2,2-bis [P-chlorophenyl] ethylene [P, P-DDE], dieldrin, endrin, 1,1-dichloro-2,2-bis [P-chlorophenyl] ethane [P,P-DDD], 1,1,1-trichloro-2,2-bis [P-chlorophenyl] ethane [P,P-DDT], endosulfan sulfate, methoxychlor and endrin ketone. The concentrations of chlorinated hydrocarbons in tissues serve as good indicators of environmental loads. The determination of organochlorine residues became necessary, since in high-polluted regions, the polychlorinated biphenyls [PCBs] are point of discussion. With respect to fish samples [Sole] collected from Bardawil Lagoon, the obtained results indicated that none of the identified pesticides were detected. Subsequently, it could be stated that Bardawil Lagoon is the best source of fish and is considered to be completely free from pollutants. On the contrary, Sole of Qaroun Lake contains six types of pesticides and the lowest frequently detected one was 8.49 mug/kg as heptachlor, while the highest concentration of methoxychlor was 1268.68 mug/kg in the same sample. The residual concentration of the aforementioned pesticides varied within the tested fish and Sole of Bardawil Lagoon proved to be completely free from any residual amounts of the investigated pesticides as indicated and proved by the statistical analysis through the principal component and factorial analysis