Depuration of PCBs and DDTs in mullet under captivity clean conditions

Contaminated mullet (Mugil cephalus) from Douro estuary was allowed to depurate in clean water and fed with uncontaminated food. Levels of PCBs and DDTs in muscle and liver, and ethoxyresorufin O-deethylase (EROD) activity were measured at day 0, 21, 120 and 270. In specimens captured in the estuary total PCB and total DDT concentrations were 311 and 65 ng g−1 in muscle and 686 and 115 ng g−1 in liver, respectively. At day 21, after an initial 10–15 days period of starvation, organochlorines levels increased in both analyzed tissues. Thereafter levels of all PCB congeners and DDT compounds decreased in muscle, and at the end of the 270 days were 49 ng g−1 and 13 ng g−1, respectively. These decreases were correlated to the lipids consumption. In liver no relationship between those variables was observed, suggesting different elimination processes and eventual exchange of contaminants between muscle and liver. EROD activities decreased in the first days of depuration experiment, but showed no relations with analysed organochlorines.