Regional assessment of PAHs contamination in SE Brazil using brown mussels (Perna perna Linnaeus 1758)

► Native and cultured mussels were used as biomonitors to regional assessment of PAHs contamination. ► Total PAHs and cluster analysis revealed an increasing gradient of contamination from the culture farms up to a coastal bay. ► Apportionment of PAHs from petrogenic and pyrogenic origins were assigned using composition profiles and diagnostic ratios.