While the correlation between BAF and Eri for Zn was not significant, BAF values for Cd and Cu were inversely
related to their corresponding Eri values, though not significant for Cu (Fig. 3). Particularly for Cd, the relationship
between BAF and Eri is contrary to the prediction (i.e. the higher Eri values were, the higher BAF values obtained)
(Fig. 3). Similarly, BAF for several metals was reported to exhibit inverse relationships to metal exposure concentrations (i.e. metal levels in the surrounding environment), a trend likely to result due to violation of the
assumption that BAF is independent of the exposure concentration. It seems that sediments having higher Eri (i.e.
anticipating more ecological damage) may not be necessarily resulting in higher tissue metal burdens of S. persicus.
Based on the discussion above, the use of correlation between BAF and Eri to examine transfer of metals from
abiotic component (i.e. sediment) to organisms is refuted. In natural waters, the use of BAF as a regulatory tool was
shown to be limited based on fish studies24. The evidence provided by the present study based on shellfish,
invertebrate, emphasized BAF limitation in the field studies.