HP7 Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs)
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() Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) in fish tissues from the Dniester River, Moldova.
Sapozhnikova, Y1, Zubcov, E2, Zubcov, N2, Schlenk, D1, 1 Environmental Sciences Department, University of California, Riverside, CA 92521, Riverside, CA, USA2 Institute of Zoology, Chisinau, Moldova
ABSTRACT- The Dniester River is one of the largest European rivers, and suffers from numerous anthropogenic activities, including enormous industrial and agricultural inputs. In October 2001, fish samples (Abramis brama, Rutilus rutilus hekkeli, Perca fluviabilis, Chondrostroma nasus, Carassius auratus, and Cyprinus carpio) were collected and analyzed for 33 PCB congeners using Gas Chromatography Electron Capture Detection (GC-ECD). Samples were collected upstream and downstream of a wastewater outfall which discharges primary treated effluent. Total PCB concentration ranged from 16 to 231 and from 21 to 225 ng/g wet weight in muscles and gonads, respectively. The highest PCB concentrations were observed in gonads of Carassius auratus-225 ng/g wet weight, and in muscles of Chondrostroma nasus-231 ng/g wet weight, both collected downstream of the wastewater outfall. PCB accumulation was greatest for tissues of Chondrostroma nasus, followed by Abramis brama, Perca fluviabilis, Carassius auratus and Rutilus rutilus hekkeli. Among PCB homologues, heavy chlorinated heptachlorobiphenyls were predominant, comprising up to 80% of the total PCB in tissues of Carassius auratus and Perca fluviabilis collected upstream the outfall. The contribution of heptachlorobiphenyls was greater in tissues collected upstream compared to those downstream, suggesting a source of industrial pollution upstream of the outfall. The most abundant congeners in both muscles and gonads were PCB 77, 82 and 170. Toxic equivalents (TEQs) for coplanar PCBs were from 0 to 4.1 and from 0.9 to 7.8 pg/g wet weight in gonads and muscles, respectively. These numbers are lower than TEQs for fish found in the Great Lakes (0.46-79 pg/g wet weight) and do not exceed TCDD concentrations at which survival and growth are reduced for fish. PCB congeners 77 and 81 contributed from 30 to 100% of the total TEQs in the tissues.
Key words: fish, PCBs, Moldova