Bioaccumulation of PCB congeners in marine benthic infauna

Field concentrations of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) were measured in sediment and nine marine soft bottom invertebrate species. Lipid- and organic carbon normalised biota-sediment accumulation factors (BSAFs) were determined for 29 nonplanar and 11 coplanar congeners. To investigate whether the bioaccumulation was in thermodynamic equilibrium with the sediment, the determined BSAFs were compared to theoretically calculated ones to obtain a BSAFdet./BSAFtheor-ratio. Large interspecific variations were found: one suspension feeding and one deposit feeding species of brittle stars (Amphiura filiformis and A. chiajei), and one predatory polychaete (Glycera rouxii) had ratios >1 for congeners with log Kow > 6.5. In these species there was also a linear relationship between log Kow and BSAF, both for coplanar and for planar congeners but with lower values for coplanar ones. For other species the pattern was more scattered. Only the deposit feeding polychaete Melinna cristata had BSAFdet./BSAFtheor-ratios < 1 for all congeners. Thus, the interspecific variations in bioaccumulation did not correlate with differences in feeding strategies, but may be caused by differences in biotransformation, and in age and size of the analysed specimens.