Organochlorine contaminants in arctic marine food chains: accumulation of specific polychlorinated biphenyls and chlordane-related compounds
Polychlorinated biphenyl congeners (S-PCB) and chlordane-related compounds (S-CHLOR) as well as DDT, hexachlorocyclohexane, toxaphene, and chlorobenzenes were determined in pooled arctic cod (Boreogadus saida) muscle and polar bear (Ursus maritimus) fat and in the blubber and liver of 59 ringed seals (Phoca hispida) from the east-central Canadian Arctic. S-PCB concentrations ranged from 0.0037 mg/kg (wet wt) in cod muscle to 0.68 mg/kg in male seal blubber and 4.50 mg/kg in bear fat. Tri- and tetrachloro PCB homologues were the dominant PCBs in fish, while pentachloro/hexachloro and hexachloro/heptachloro congeners predominated in ringed seal blubber and polar bear fat, respectively. Chlordane compounds detected in seal blubber were oxychlordane, cis- and trans-nonachlor, and cis-chlordane as well as nine minor components of technical chlordane, including nonachlor-III (a nonachlor isomer). Toxaphene and HCH isomers were the major organochlorines in cod muscle with mean concentrations of 0.018 and 0.010 mg/kg, respectively. S-CHLOR/S-PCB ratios ranged from 0.6 in fish muscle and bear fat to 0.7-0.9 in seal blubber, much higher than observed in more southerly marine environments, suggesting a proportionally greater input of chlordane into the Arctic.
- Research Organization:
- Department of Fisheries and Oceans, Winnipeg, Manitoba (Canada)
- OSTI ID:
- 6211147
- Journal Information:
- Environ. Sci. Technol.; (United States), Vol. 22:9
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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Related Subjects
63 RADIATION, THERMAL, AND OTHER ENVIRON. POLLUTANT EFFECTS ON LIVING ORGS. AND BIOL. MAT.
BEARS
CONTAMINATION
CHLORINATED AROMATIC HYDROCARBONS
BIOLOGICAL ACCUMULATION
CODFISH
FOOD CHAINS
ORGANIC CHLORINE COMPOUNDS
PINNIPEDS
ADIPOSE TISSUE
ARCTIC REGIONS
CANADA
ECOLOGICAL CONCENTRATION
WILD ANIMALS
ANIMAL TISSUES
ANIMALS
AQUATIC ORGANISMS
AROMATICS
BODY
CONNECTIVE TISSUE
FISHES
HALOGENATED AROMATIC HYDROCARBONS
MAMMALS
NORTH AMERICA
ORGANIC COMPOUNDS
ORGANIC HALOGEN COMPOUNDS
POLAR REGIONS
TISSUES
VERTEBRATES
520200* - Environment
Aquatic- Chemicals Monitoring & Transport- (-1989)
560300 - Chemicals Metabolism & Toxicology