Occurrence of anthropogenic and naturally-produced organohalogenated compounds in tissues of Black Sea harbour porpoises

• Published in: Marine Pollution Bulletin
• Main Authors: Weijs, Liesbeth, Das, Krishna, Neels, Hugo, Blust, Ronny, Covaci, Adrian
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier 2010
• Subjects: Harbour porpoise; Black Sea; Anthropogenic compounds; Naturally-produced compounds; Tissue distribution; Life sciences; Aquatic sciences & oceanology; Environmental sciences & ecology; Sciences du vivant; Sciences aquatiques & océanologie; Sciences de l’environnement & écologie
• Online Access: https://orbi.uliege.be/handle/2268/10098; https://orbi.uliege.be/bitstream/2268/10098/1/2010%20MPB%20Weijs%20in%20press.pdf; https://doi.org/10.1016/j.marpolbul.2009.11.022

peer reviewed Harbour porpoises are one of the three cetacean species inhabiting the Black Sea. This is the first study to report on polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) and naturally-produced compounds, methoxylated PBDEs (MeO-PBDEs) and polybrominated hexahydroxanthene derivatives (PBHDs), in tissues (kidney, brain, blubber, liver, muscle) of male harbour porpoises (11 adults, 9 juveniles) from the Black Sea. Lipid-normalized concentrations decreased from muscle > blubber > liver > kidney > brain for the sum of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and for the sum of PBDEs. Among the naturally-produced compounds, levels of PBHDs were higher than of MeO-PBDEs, with tri-BHD and 6-MeO-BDE 47 being the dominant compounds for both groups, respectively. Concentrations of naturally-produced compounds decreased from blubber to brain, similarly to the sum of DDT and metabolites (DDXs). Concentrations of DDXs were highest, followed by PCBs, HCB, PBHDs, PBDEs and MeO-PBDEs. Levels of PCBs and PBDEs in blubber were lower than concentrations reported for harbour porpoises from the North Sea, while concentrations of DDXs were higher.