ABSTRACT
Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), DDTs, and polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) were followed through the five life stages of a wild population of anadromous brown trout and related to variations in lipid content and exposure situations. Anadromous brown trout exhibits great variations in lipid content during its life cycle in the freshwater and marine environments. The results indicated substantial differences in PBDE and organochlorine exposure, with apparently more recent sources of PBDEs in the freshwater environment relative to the marine environment. Lipid and contaminant transfer were not always identical: The concentrations of PCBs, DDTs, and PBDEs (ng/g lipid weight) were about 15 times lower in the eggs compared to the muscle of their mother (e.g., 823 ng PCB/g Iw vs. 12,565 ng PCB/g lw, respectively). During the starving period from maiden to spawning trout the contaminant load increased by a higher factor than the lipid use. The data suggest a decoupling between lipid content and organohalogen concentrations for anadromous brown trout, which may contribute positively to reduce any potential negative effects of the transferred contaminants on eggs and fry.
Subject(s)
Environmental Monitoring , Food Contamination , Hydrocarbons, Halogenated/pharmacokinetics , Life Cycle Stages/drug effects , Muscles/drug effects , Trout/growth & development , Water Pollutants, Chemical , Animals , Body Burden , DDT/pharmacokinetics , DDT/toxicity , Eggs/analysis , Flame Retardants/pharmacokinetics , Flame Retardants/toxicity , Half-Life , Halogenated Diphenyl Ethers , Hydrocarbons, Halogenated/toxicity , Life Cycle Stages/physiology , Lipids/blood , Muscles/metabolism , Pesticide Residues/pharmacokinetics , Pesticide Residues/toxicity , Phenyl Ethers/pharmacokinetics , Phenyl Ethers/toxicity , Polybrominated Biphenyls/pharmacokinetics , Polybrominated Biphenyls/toxicity , Polychlorinated Biphenyls/pharmacokinetics , Polychlorinated Biphenyls/toxicity , Salinity , Time Factors , Water Pollutants, Chemical/pharmacokinetics , Water Pollutants, Chemical/toxicityABSTRACT
Atlantic salmon (Salmon salar) populations from four locations, two from isolated Swedish lake systems, one of the Baltic Sea and one of the North Atlantic, were analyzed to determine the concentrations and spatial variations of polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) and organochlorines (DDT, PCB and HCH). Levels in both liver and muscle were in the same range as previously reported in Atlantic salmon, except for elevated concentrations found per lipid weight (lw) in the muscle samples of salmon from the North Atlantic ( summation PBDE 263 ng g(-1) lw, summation PCB 3262 ng g(-1) lw, summation DDT 4063 ng g(-1) lw summation HCH 131 ng g(-1)). In general, elevated concentrations in the muscles compared to the liver were observed, especially in lipid depleted migrating salmon, possibly caused by a faster lipid depletion compared with the redistribution of PBDEs, PCBs and DDTs. These findings indicated that the life stage and thereby the lipid dynamics of the fish must be considered prior to comparison based on lipid weight, especially as Atlantic salmon experience large variations in lipid content during periods of migration. The dominating PBDE congener was BDE-47, representing more than 25% in all fish. The PBDE pattern changed between locations, with a significant separation of the fish from the freshwater and marine environment when analyzed using principal component analysis.
