The heavy metal ions originating from the various point and nonpoint sources seriously threatening the lotic ecosystem by posing severe health crises to the aquatic organisms of higher trophic levels. The freshwater turtles with delicate body structure and devoid of any hardcovers are prone to higher heavy metal bioaccumulation risks. The present study was conducted to determine heavy metals bioaccumulation in three soft-shelled and hard-shelled freshwater turtle species in Pakistan. We collected the water samples and cadaver turtle bodies at both sites and transported them to the laboratory for heavy metal content evaluation. The skeletal muscles (1 g) and water samples (100 ml) were processed by acid digestion and prepared metals analyses by AAS. The results indicated that the mean concentrations of Copper (Cu), Zinc (Zn) and Cadmium (Cd) were significantly lower, while Nickel (Ni), Cobalt (Co), Lead (Pb) and Chromium (Cr) were significantly higher at both sites compared with world health organization (WHO, 2004) standards. Muscles of softshell turtle (Lissemys punctata) showed the maximum bioaccumulation of targeted metals than other two species of hard-shell turtles i.e. Cu (7.61 ± 1.88), Zn (49.17 ± 4.11), Ni (2.77 ± 0.41), Cd (0.21 ± 0.02), Co (3.31 ± 0.43), Pb (4.70 ± 0.62) and Cr (6.09 ± 0.39). The mean concentrations of Cu, Ni, Pb, and Cr were maximum in water and turtle species muscles collected from Trimmu Barrage. In conclusion, the heavy metal loads in water and bioaccumulation patterns in the skeletal muscles of freshwater turtle species illustrated species and location-based variations with overall similar pattern corroborations among the sequence of heavy presence levels.

来自各种点和非点源的重金属离子通过对营养水平较高的水生生物造成严重的健康危机，严重威胁着水生态系统。淡水龟的身体结构细腻，没有任何精装，很容易增加重金属的生物蓄积风险。进行本研究以确定巴基斯坦三种软壳和硬壳淡水龟物种中的重金属生物富集。我们在两个地点收集了水样和尸体，并将它们运到实验室进行重金属含量评估。通过酸消化处理骨骼肌（1 g）和水样品（100 ml），并通过AAS进行金属分析。结果表明，铜（Cu）的平均浓度 与世界卫生组织的标准相比，这两个地点的锌（Zn）和镉（Cd）均显着降低，而镍（Ni），钴（Co），铅（Pb）和铬（Cr）则显着较高（世卫组织，2004年） 。turtle（Lissemys punctata）的肌肉）显示出比其他两种硬壳海龟（铜（7.61±1.88），锌（49.17±4.11），镍（2.77±0.41），镉（0.21±0.02），钴（3.31± 0.43），铅（4.70±0.62）和铬（6.09±0.39）。从Trimmu Barrage收集的水和龟类肌肉中，Cu，Ni，Pb和Cr的平均浓度最高。总之，淡水龟物种的骨骼中水中的重金属负载和生物蓄积模式说明了物种和基于位置的变异，在重度存在水平序列之间总体上具有相似的模式确证。