Biogenic and pollutant aliphatic hydrocarbons in Mytilus edulis from the North Sea

Abstract

Capillary gas chromatography (GC) and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) have been used to examine the aliphatic hydrocarbon fraction of specimens of the mussel, Mytilus edulis, collected from the legs of a North Sea oil-production platform. In addition to an unresolved complex mixture (UCM) of fossil fuel pollutant hydrocarbons ( ca. 64 μg g −1 dry weight average), the fraction was dominated by large amounts ( ca. 21 μgg −1 dry weight) of C 31 and C 33 n-alkenes with 2, 3 and 4 double bonds. These alkenes have also been identified in the ubiquitous marine alga, Emiliania huxleyi, and in some species of fish taken from the North Sea. The close correspondence in the composition data suggest that, in the mussel, these alkenes arise from a biogenic dietary source, most probably from Emiliania huxleyi. This contention is supported by the identification in the mussel of unusual C 37, C 38 and C 39 unsaturated straight-chain ketones which have recently been shown to be biosynthesised by Emiliania.