Sources of polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins (PCDDs), polychlorinated dibenzofurans (PCDFs), and coplanar polychlorinated biphenyls (Co-PCBs), and their bioaccumulation through the marine food web in Sendai Bay, Japan.

The concentrations of PCDD/F and Co-PCB congeners in seawater, sediment, Pacific oyster, Japanese anchovy, marbled sole, and Japanese flounder samples from Sendai Bay, Japan, were analyzed. The compositions of total PCDD/F and total Co-PCB concentrations in sediment and Pacific oyster reflected that in seawater--the compositions of total PCDD, PCDF, and Co-PCB concentrations were approximately 60, 10, and 30%, respectively. The compositions in Japanese anchovy, marbled sole, and Japanese flounder were different from those in seawater and sediment-the ratio of total Co-PCB concentration to total PCDD/F plus Co-PCB concentrations in Japanese anchovy, marbled sole, and Japanese flounder was above 90%. Tetrachlorinated PCDDs (T4CDDs), such as 1,3,6,8- and 1,3,7,9-T4CDD, were the predominant congeners in seawater and sediment; the total T4CDD concentrations in seawater and sediment were approximately 46 and 48% of the total PCDD concentration. Furthermore, shipments of the herbicide 1,3,5-trichloro-2-(4-nitrophenoxy)benzene to Miyagi Prefecture, the so-called granary of Japan, were the highest in Japan over the last 12 years. The major sources of PCDD/Fs and Co-PCBs in Sendai Bay, which is in Miyagi Prefecture, are impurities in chlorinated herbicides. The order of concentration of PCDD/Fs was Pacific oyster > Japanese anchovy = marbled sole > Japanese flounder; the concentration in Japanese flounder, which is a higher-trophic-level consumer in the marine food web, was lower than that in shellfish (Pacific oyster) and Japanese anchovy, which are lower-trophic-level consumers. The order of concentration of Co-PCBs was Pacific oyster < Japanese anchovy = marbled sole < Japanese flounder; the concentrations in the higher-trophic-level consumers were higher than the concentrations in the lower-trophic-level consumers. Different PCDD/F congeners tended to bioaccumulate in different organisms. On the other hand, all species of Co-PCB congener tended to bioaccumulate in all organisms.