Accumulation and distribution of organochlorines (PCBs and DDTs) in various organs of Stenella coeruleoalba and a Tursiops truncatus from Mediterranean littoral environment (France)

Abstract The objective of the present study is to determine the levels of contamination by PCBs, DDT and its metabolites in dolphins failed on the coasts of the Mediterranean sea. Samples are represented by six Stenella coeruleoalba and a Tursiops truncatus collected in 2000 and 2003. The studies are achieved on the blubber, the heart, the liver, the kidney, the muscle and the lung. The concentrations of PCBs and DDT are very high in all tissues and organs analyzed. For the PCBs, the concentrations vary between 43,838 and 110,343 μg/kg lipid basis in the blubber, 601 and 39444 μg/kg dried weight in the liver, 1375 and 34512 μg/kg dried weight in the muscle, 3151 and 17082 μg/kg dried weight in the heart, 674 and 12365 μg/kg dried weight in the kidney and finally between 648 and 4118 μg/kg dried weight in the lung. These values are comparable to those previously obtained in our laboratory and by other authors during the years 1990 on the Mediterranean environment. Significant differences in concentrations are noted in tissues and organs, neither according to the age, nor according to the gender. In all the analyzed samples, the contents in PCBs are higher than those of DDT. The average ratios of pp′-DDE/ΣDDT are close to 0.6 which shows the metabolization of these compounds along the years. The examination of the profiles of congeners shows that the hexachlorinated molecules are dominating in all tissues and organs which supposes the different animals were especially exposed to Pyralen-type compounds of transformer (Dp6).