Abstract

The present review aimed to summarize the concentration of potentially toxic metals in water bodies and in the gills, kidneys, and livers of fish and other seafood. Histopathological and haematological alterations and the impact of these metals on the growth and reproduction of fish are also documented. For sustained global development, fish and seafood must be protected from these pollutants, as they damage food quality and human health. These pollutants lower body weight, body length, survival rate, feed intake and decrease reproductive capacity. These pollutants are distributed in the gills, kidney, liver and muscle of fish and other seafood from the  bodies of water and cause several histopathological changes such as severe necrosis, hypertrophic hepatocytes, vacuolated cytoplasm, sinusoids dilation in the liver, haemorrhage due to epithelium cell break, lamellar artery wall weakening, the fusion of all the lamellae, and rupture of lamellar epithelium in gills, lowering the number of the hematopoietic tissues, expansion of the connective tissues; damage of the renal tubuli; and glomerular contraction in the kidney. In the muscle tissue, shortening and elongation of muscle bundles are observed. Consumption of such contaminated fish and other seafood directly transfers these metals into the human body which expedites the number of diseases. This toxic metal in human disrupts the endocrine functioning, damages antioxidants, inhibits the functioning of enzymes, retards the DNA repair mechanism, and causes protein dysfunction. Some of these metals are well-known to be carcinogenic.

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