Abstract
Marine environment has a huge biodiversity in so many living creatures such as microorganisms, invertebrates, plants, fish, sharks, and whales. Chemical contamination can easily break down the weak balance of the marine environment. Recently, organic and inorganic chemicals are the main detecting contaminants in the marine samples involving fish and seawater. Oil, hydrocarbons (CxHy), and heavy metals can be detected qualitatively and measured quantitatively using the modern instrumental analysis tools. Infrared (IR), Ultraviolet/Visible (UV/Visb.), Proton Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (1HNMR) and Mass Spectrophotometer (MS) are the most usable and reliable tools to investigate the structure elucidation of organic contaminants whereas Flame Photometer (FP), Atomic Absorption (AA) spectrometer, and Inductively Coupled Plasma (ICP) are the common spectroscopic tools for the detection and determination of light (Li, Na, K, Ca, Ba, Sr) and heavy (Pb, Cd, Hg, As, Sn, Ag, Zn) elements in seawater and marine samples. These modern instrumental tools have been provided as a result of developments of marine science, chemistry, pollution science, and engineering. Our present review provides a scientific detail about the available and reliable modern tools that can be used for determination of organic and inorganic contaminants in marine samples. The main sources of contaminants, the mutual relationship between contaminants and ecosystem, and the chemical aspects in marine environments have been outlined.