BULLETIN OF MARINE SCIENCE, 71(2): 1091–1093, 2002 1091 LEAD IN OCTOPUS (OCTOPUS VULGARIS) IN PORTUGAL: A PRELIMINARY STUDY Sónia Borges Seixas, T. Pinheiro and Carlos Sousa Reis Aquatic organisms are good indicators of environmental variations as they may accu- mulate natural compounds and pollutants in their tissues and organs depending on their bioavailability in the ecosystem. Anthropogenic activity has contributed to a progressive rise of pollutant levels in es- tuarine and coastal regions. Among these pollutants, lead (Pb) represents a major public health concern due to its high toxicity (Duc et al., 1994). Lead is a heavy metal that has deleterious effects in cells, can form relatively long-lasting compounds with organic molecules and accumulate in the food chain (Widdows, 1985). Lead and other toxic ele- ments have always been present in the environment, but the industrial growth altered the relative availability of these compounds and the form in which they are dispersed. Al- though atmospheric lead has decreased in the last decade significant lead levels in marine organisms seem to be maintained. The importance of cephalopods as a marine resource is reflected in their relative eco- nomic status as a high value fishery product in Portugal. Specifically Octopus vulgaris is an abundant species on the Portuguese coast and frequently used for human consump- tion. The octopus is a versatile benthic animal with a high growth rate and relatively short life cycle, present in a range of marine environments and at different depths. They con- sume crustaceans, bivalves, fish and other cephalopods and may have potential as a bioindicator organism providing a qualitative approach to environment contamination. METHODS Octopuses were sampled from two important fishing grounds landing from the commercially fishery in Viana do Castelo and Cascais in November 1999. At least 10 animals were randomly collected from each site, ensuring only that an equal number of males and females were included. In this work, three males and three females from each site were analysed. The Cascais region encompasses a capture area on the west coast influenced by the River Tagus estuary, one of biggest in Europe. Viana do Castelo is also located on the west coast in the North, close to the province of Galicia in Spain. The sex and maturation status, total body weight and length were recorded. From each animal mantle, arm, gill, digestive gland, branchial heart were sampled. The tissue samples were subjected to acid digestion and three aliquots of 10 µl were analysed their elemental contents such as lead (Pb) by the multielemental technique, Particle Induced X-ray Emission (PIXE) (Pinheiro et al., 1997) with a minimum detection limit of 0.6 mg kg −1 dry weight. RESULTS The octopus collected from both regions, Cascais and Viana do Castelo were similar in size and total body weight. For each animal, the different tissue Pb contents are shown in Table 1. High Pb concentrations were observed for the digestive gland and branchial hearts. For one animal of each group Pb was determined in mantle muscle and for one female and male animals from Cascais and one male from Viana do Castelo Pb was