HEAVY-METALS IN MERCENARIA-MERCENARIA AND SEDIMENTS FROM THE NEW BEDFORD HARBOR REGION OF BUZZARDS BAY, MASSACHUSETTS

The presence of manufacturing facilities engaged in the use of heavy metals combined with the existence of a local fishery suggested the importance of studying the distribution and accumulation of metals in bivalves in the New Bedford, Massachusetts mercenaria(L), as an indicator for a number of reasons, including the fact tht the bivalve is sessile and thus indicative of local metal distribution and they inhabit benthic sediments which accumulate heavy metals. M. mercenary and sediments from the New Bedford region were analyzed for cadmium, copper, iron, lead and zinc to investigate some of the relationships between environmental and organismal levels. Study materials, methods and results are reported.