Levels of polychlorinated biphenyls in Patella piperata from the coast of Fuerteventura (Canary Islands, Spain).

Concentration of 51 PCB congeners were determined in the visceral mass of the endemic limpet Patella piperata, sampled in four stations in the coast of Fuerteventura (Canary Islands, Spain) during 1991-1995, and evaluated in order to assess the origin of their contamination and the possibility of this limpet being used as a bioindicator organism for PCB contamination. PCB extracted from samples were fractionated on Florisil columns and analysed by capillary gas chromatography with flame ionisation detector. Principal Component, Factor and Cluster Analysis were used to study the patterns and relationships among PCBs.