Bioaccumulation of anthropogenic contaminants by detritivorous fish in the Río de la Plata estuary: 2-Polychlorinated biphenyls

The temporal variability and bioaccumulation dynamics of individual PCBs were studied in a detritivorous fish (Sábalo: Prochilodus lineatus) collected from 1999 to 2005 in the polluted Buenos Aires coastal area. Fish muscles contain high concentrations of total PCBs (11 ± 7.2, 4.6 ± 3.4 or 19 ± 13 μg g−1, dry, fresh and lipid weight, respectively) reflecting chronic bioaccumulation from sewage-industrial particulates. On a temporal basis, lipid normalized PCBs concentrations peaked by the end of 2001–2002 coincident with the rainiest period over the last four decades and shortly after PCB prohibition in the country, reflecting massive discharges to the coastal ecosystem. PCB composition in fish muscles show a prevailing contribution of hexachlorobiphenyls (35 ± 4.2%), followed by hepta (23 ± 3.0%), penta (20 ± 3.6%), tri-tetra (16 ± 4.8%) and minor proportions of octa-decachlorobiphenyls (5.7 ± 3.1%) similar to an Aroclor 1242–1254–1260 1:2:4 mixture. During 2001–2002 maxima fish showed an enrichment in tri-tetrachlorobiphenyls (∼1242–1254–1260 1:1:1 mixture) denoting a fresher signature. Fish/settling material lipid-organic carbon accumulation factors (BSAFs: 2.4–46, average: 21 ± 10) plotted against kow showed a parabolic trend (BSAFs = −0.38 logkow2+5.16 log kow −15.85; R2 = 0.46) maximizing at hexa, hepta and octachlorobiphenyl 203 with reduced bioaccumulation of a few hepta (170, 191) and most octa-decachlorobihenyls suggesting limited intestinal absorption.