| Summary: | The aim of the sea has involved a large variety of environmental contaminants and play crucial role in the aquatic ecosystems. The Izmir Bay, which has been rapidly polluted since the 1960s, was one of the areas where the pollution in the Mediterranean was most intense. Organic materials, hydrocarbons, metals and pathogenic organisms accumulated in the region posed a high degree of threat to aesthetics and health. Because of this, aim of this paper was focus on to investigations of the genetic damages in mussels in polluted waters of Izmir Bay. Investigations of mutagenic/carcinogenic potential has an advantage in genotoxicity studies because biomarker for pollution exposure in mussel is the early detection of possible long-term effects such as cancer. Therefore, genotoxicity was in the focus of the biomarker investigations in mussel during the investigations. Thus, micronucleus tests was afforded to determine genetic damage in the haemolymph, liver and gills of Mytilus galloprovincialis living in Izmir Bay (Western Coast of Turkey). In the present study, results showed that frequency of MN was found at high level in station 4 and station 5 where wastes from dockyard existed contributed to high level of pollution. The recommendation is to standardize procedures for assessment of toxic impact of pollutant at the cellular level in aquatic species by using micronucleus assays for biomonitoring of environmental pollution.
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