DDT Compounds and PCB Isomers and Congeners in Weddell Seals and Their Fate in the Antarctic Marine Ecosystem

Abstract

The whole-body burdens and concentrations of ΣDDT (the sum of p,p'-DDE and p,p'-DDT) and PCBs in the Weddell seal, Leptonychotes weddelli, caught near Syowa Station, Antarctica, were determined by detailed biometric measurements of their organs and tissues and analyses of ΣDDT and PCBs in them. The concentration levels of ΣDDT and PCBs in Weddell seals were much lower than those in various species of marine mammals from other oceans. The low levels may be attributable to the low concentration of these chemicals in the food of Weddell seals and in the sea water under antarctic fast ice. However, the concentration ratio of ΣDDT between the food organisms of seals and sea water under antarctic fast ice was higher than those of other ocean ecosystems. © 1983, Japan Society for Bioscience, Biotechnology, and Agrochemistry. All rights reserved.