Chashma Barrage mussels Researcher finds heavy metals toxicity

In an alarming but significant groundbreaking environment research, Punjab University PhD scholar Muhammad Sohail working under the supervision of Dean Faculty of Life Sciences Professor Dr Muhammad Naeem Khan has found that freshwater mussels (Anodonta anatine) being sensitive to aquatic environmental contamination are excellent indicators of ecosystem health and stability.
According to the spokes person of the PU freshwater mussels, close relatives of pearls producing oyster mollusks are immobile and imbedded in the river streambed and filter water to obtain oxygen and food; therefore, they are sensitive to industrial, agricultural and other anthropogenic contaminations polluting even River Indus.
The researcher has found bio-accumulation of Lead, Copper and Chromium heavy metals in the gills, mantle and foot of freshwater mussels collected from River Indus and Chashma Barrage bed. Punjab University Advanced Studies & Research Board (ASRB) in its first meeting presided over by Vice Chancellor Professor Dr Zaffar Mueen Nasir approved the award of PhD degree to Muhammad Sohail on the basis of excellent foreign PhD evaluation reports received from the leading European fisheries experts in the University of South Bohemia, Czech Republic and NAIK Research Institute of Fisheries and Aquaculture, Hungary, who endorsed the research findings as significant and recommended the award of PhD degree.