PCB congeners in Lake Michigan coho (Oncorhynchus kisutch) and chinook (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha) salmon.

Abstract

We determined PCB congener concentrations in coho and chinook salmon collected in two Lake Michigan tributaries during the fall of 1996. Chinook salmon were larger than coho salmon and contained higher concentrations of the 78 PCB congeners we detected. There were no differences between male and female chinook or coho salmon in size or their PCB concentrations. Among individual fish, we found little evidence for a relationship between congener concentrations and percent lipid; however, congener concentrations did show a generally positive relationship with salmon size. Fish and macroinvertebrate congener concentrations are clearly related, and PCB congeners biomagnify approximately 20-30-fold as they flow from macroinvertebrates, two trophic levels below salmon, to the salmon. Slopes of regressions of salmonid congener concentrations on macroinvertebrate congener concentrations within homologs indicated that the degree of biomagnification generally increased with the degree of congener chlorination, although this pattern was much stronger for Mysis than for Diporeia. Log Kow and categorical variables for coplanar and "toxic" PCBs were not significant additional model terms, indicating that bioaccumulation of PCB congeners was not statistically related to these physicochemical attributes of the PCBs. The distribution of homologue PCBs shifts from a distinct predominance of hexachlorobiphenyls in macroinvertebrates to pentachlorobiphenyls and hexachlorobiphenyls in the salmon.