Polychlorobiphenyl (PCB) congeners in striped bass (Morone saxatilis) from marine and estuarine waters of New York State determined by capillary gas chromatography.

Edible filets of striped-bass samples (60) from the Hudson River estuary, the Atlantic shore of Long Island, and Long Island Sound were analyzed by high-resolution glass-capillary gas chromatography for 74 polychlorobiphenyl (PCB) compounds. The fish, a non-random subset of a larger sample, contained the following concentrations of total PCB residue (mean +/- the standard error of the mean). The corresponding mean values for the entire survey (N = 717) are given in parentheses: eastern Long Island Sound 1.8 +/- 0.4 (1.91 +/- 0.1) mg/kg; western Long Island Sound, 1.9 +/- 0.2 (2.51 +/- 0.1) mg/kg; eastern Atlantic shore, 3.0 +/- 0.5 (2.45 +/- 0.2) mg/kg; western Atlantic shore, 7.5 +/- 1.9 (3.04 +/- 0.2) mg/kg; Hudson River, 15 +/- 3 (6.19 +/- 0.4) mg/kg. All the samples contained PCB residues derived from Aroclors 1242, 1016, 1254, and 1260 but none of the residue present came from Aroclor 1221 as evidenced by the complete absence of 4-chlorobiphenyl from the fish. Fish from the Hudson River and the majority from the Atlantic shore of Long Island contained 2,2'- and 2,6-dichlorobiphenyls indicating recent exposure to Hudson River PCBs. On this basis, there was evidence that a subpopulation of fish was not exposed to the Hudson River PCB source. The detailed PCB congener make-up of the typical residue found in these fish differs from that found in the majority of human food-stuff in that it contains a proportionately large amount of mono- through tetra-chlorinated PCB. The mean concentration of the more toxicologically suspect congeners which are not readily degraded by mammals and birds (those with two 4-substituents) comprise less than 1 ppm in Long Island Sound fish.