Page 903 - The Toxicology of Fishes

The Effects of Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons in Fish from Puget Sound, Washington 883

Rock sole from oiled site

Rock sole from reference site

English sole from urban site

English sole from reference site

260/380 nm (phenanthrene)
0.0 Retention time (minutes) 24.0

FIGURE 22.3 Chromatograms from the HPLC-fluorescence screening of bile at phenanthrene wavelength: from a rock
sole from Prince William Sound, Alaska, after the Exxon Valdez oil spill; from a rock sole from a reference (non-oiled)
site; and from English sole captured from an urban site and from a non-urban reference site. (From Krahn, M.M. et al., J.
Chromatogr., 642, 15–32, 1993. With permission.)

metals and some ionizable organic compounds, the bioavailability of PAHs is affected by only a few
environmental variables such as organic carbon and sediment surface area. Physiological factors,
including lipid levels and the rates of uptake and elimination (metabolism, diffusion, and excretion),
also determine contaminant tissue residues (Meador et al., 1995a). Behavioral patterns, such as organism
site fidelity and variable rates of feeding, are very important for determining steady state tissue
concentrations.
Bioaccumulation factors for PAHs and other hydrophobic organic compounds are generally expressed
as the ratio of tissue to water (BCF) (Equation 22.1) or the sediment concentration ratio (BAF) (Equation
22.2). Currently, many researchers are interested in the biota–sediment accumulation factor (BSAF)
(Equation 22.3), which is useful for reducing the variability observed in bioaccumulation. The BSAF is
the lipid and organic carbon normalized bioaccumulation factor: