**Author details**

of metals in benthic organisms were subunitary, which indicated a slowly bioaccumulation process occurred in the studied aquatic ecosystems. This conclusion highlighted a bioaccumulation process that can increase the persistence of metals in the ecosystem, with a long‐term potential risk in trophic chain. The preliminary aquatic risk assessment calculated for *C. carpio* for the most detected metals both in water and in sediment (Ni, Cd, Cr, Cu, Pb, As, and Zn) revealed insignificant to moderate risk considering the metals measured environmental concentrations, acute and long‐term effects. The results highlighted a pessimistic view concerning the quality of aquatic ecosystem needed to support the carp survival. The concern is related to the constant presence of metal concentrations especially in sediments which is the principal food provider, leading to bioaccumulation processes and trophic chain transfer. Future studies have been initiated to understand the long‐term effects of metals in aquatic biota and to complete the aquatic risk assessment considering the abiotic

factors.

80 Water Quality

**Abbreviations:**

Cd cadmium As arsenium Cu copper Pb lead Ni nickel

Zr zirconium Ti titanium

Mn manganese Mg magnesium Cd cadmium

Co cobalt

Cr chromium

Se selenium Na sodium

P phosphorus

Mo molybdenum

Fe iron Zn zinc Stefania Gheorghe\* , Catalina Stoica, Gabriela Geanina Vasile, Mihai Nita‐Lazar, Elena Stanescu and Irina Eugenia Lucaciu

\*Address all correspondence to: biologi@incdecoind.ro

National Research and Development Institute for Industrial Ecology – ECOIND, Bucharest, Romania
