Continuous surface seawater surveillance on poly aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and mutagenicity of East and South China Seas

Poly aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and mutagenic compounds were adsorbed on Blue Rayon (BR) to monitor the pollution level of the surface seawater of the East and South China Seas by continuous sampling of seawater along the ship lane of our research and training vessel Umitaka-Maru. Eluted PAHs from BR were quantitatively determined by HPLC and their total amount in each sample ranged between 30.40 and 120.29 ng per liter of seawater, showing a difference of about 4 times among 8 samples. Acenaphthylene, naphthalene, and benz(a)anthracene were the most common PAHs found in the East and South China Seas, however, no big difference was observed in the concentrations of PAHs distributed throughout those two closed seas. Mutagenicity was detected as pseudo-positive from three samples. Among them, one sample collected along the east edge of the East China Sea showed a strong direct cytotoxicity which interrupted the mutagenicity test.