Polychlorinated biphenyl dynamics in hudson river striped bass. I. Accumulation in early life history stages

Abstract

Polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB) burdens in larval striped bass, Morone saxatilis, from the Hudson River estuary and laboratory determinations of PCB accumulation in larval and juvenile striped bass are presented. Hudson River fish contained variable amounts of PCBs, from below detection (0.05 gm/g dry weight) to 7.07 μ/g. More PCBs similar to Aroclor 1254 than Aroclor 1016 were found. Larval and young-of-year fish exposed to [ 14C]Aroclor 1254 ([ 14C]PCB) in water and sorbed to suspended particles and sediments accumulated PCBs at linear rates during the first 24 h of exposure. Larvae exposed in river water accumulated body burdens related to exposure concentrations. Similar accumulation rates and body burdens in larvae exposed in filtered (0.45 μm pore size) river water showed that accumulation resulted from the uptake of dissolved PCB. PCB accumulation in larvae exposed to [ 14C]PCB on suspended particles resulted from uptake of PCB desorbed from particles. PCB burdens in larvae exposed to sediment-sorbed [ 14C]PCB resulted from desorption of sediment-bound PCB and maintenance of solubility equilibrium with the water. The linear relationship between the initial PCB concentration in water and accumulated PCB in fish from each exposure suggested that accumulation resulted from equilibrium partitioning between water and fish. There are indications that PCB burdens in river fish reflect the solubility-equilibrium based accumulation determined in these studies.