Organochlorine Pesticides in Fishes and Mollusks from Lower Reaches of the Tumen River and of the Contiguous Part of Peter the Great Bay (Sea of Japan)

Abstract

The content of persistent organochlorine pesticides (DDT and its metabolites, α-, β- and γ-isomers of hexachlorocyclohexane, HCH) were studied in the tissues and organs of some fish and molluskan species from the lower reaches of the Tumen River and the contiguous part of Peter the Great Bay (Sivuchya Bay and Zapadnaya Bay of the Furugelm Isl.) and Amursky bay. The highest total content of HCHs (785.60 ng/g of gross mass) was revealed in the digestive gland of the Japanese scallop Mizuhopecten yessoensis from Zapadnaya Bay and in the brain and the liver of the starry flounder Platichthys stellatus from the Tumen River (390.80 and 340.29 ng/g of gross mass). The maximum total content of DDT (270.70 ng/g of gross mass) was recorded in the brain of the dark plaice Pleuronectes obscurus from Zapadnaya Bay and in the liver of the far eastern smooth flounder Pleuronectes pinnifasciatus, caught in Amursky Bay to the west of Skrebtsov Isl. (212.80 ng/g of gross mass). The level of HCHs and DDT in mollusks and flounders from Zapadnaya Bay was higher than that in the same species from Sivuchya Bay. The concentration of organochlorine pesticides (OCP) in P. pinnifasciatus from the inner part of Amursky Bay at Skrebtsov Isl. was higher than in individuals of that species from the open part of the Bay at Peschany Pen. The DDT/DDE and DDT/ΣDDT ratios evidenced the recent entry of DDT into the ecosystem of Peter the Great Bay. The southwest part of Peter the Great Bay, from the mouth of the Tumen River up to Furugelm Isl, was contaminated by HCHs to a greater extent than Amursky Bay. OCPs accumulated in appreciable quantities in the organs of fishes and mollusks of Peter the Great Bay, though their present content does not exceed sanitary–hygienic standards, a subsequent monitoring of their concentrations in biota is necessary.