Herbicide contamination of live armclad rockfish, clam and pen shell by moss-control agents used in aquariums of seafood restaurants in Korea

Abstract

Determination of simazine and diuron by high-performance liquid chromatography-ultraviolet detection (HPLC-UV) in moss-control agents, seawater and fish in aquariums was investigated and validated. The detection limits are 0.2 (simazine) and 0.4 µg l–1 (diuron) in blank seawater, and 0.20 (simazine) and 0.30 µg kg−1 (diuron) in blank fish homogenate, while the recoveries ranged from 93.9% to 102.4% with a relative standard deviation ≤ 9.8% for simazine and diuron. The method was successfully used in the study of simazine and diuron contamination in live fish stored in seafood restaurant aquaria in Korea. It was found that 0.4–2.3% of simazine and <0.10–3.8% of diuron were included the in moss-control agents tested. Of the 66 sampled aquarium seawaters, simazine was found to be present in four samples (3.8–42 µg l−1) while diuron was detected in two samples (1.3–1.6 µg l−1). For fish homogenates used in a bioconcentration study, simazine content ranges from 0.17 to 1.8 mg kg−1.