Abstract: The water area of Yixing city, located in the western shore of the Taihu Lake, is one of the famous traditional production places of Corbicula fluminea in China. An ICP-MS was used to study the contents of 6 mineral elements and their correlation in the soft parts of C. fluminea, which collected from the aforementioned water area. The results showed that 6 mineral elements could be ranked in decreasing order of their contents as follows: Na > K > Mg > Mn > Cu > Se, revealing an average content of 1215.2, 763.4, 656.2, 115.6, 65.8 mg/kg and 3.2 mg/kg dry weight basis, respectively. The contents of Cu, Mn and Se of Corbicula fluminea obtained in this study were higher than previously reported. Moreover, a significant positive correlation was found between elemental concentrations of Na-K, Na-Mg, Na-Se, Mg-Se, Mg-K and K-Se, suggesting that co-accumulation of these elements possibly exists in C. fluminea.

Key words: Corbicula fluminea, mineral element, correlation, the Taihu Lake