Organochlorine pesticides and polychlorinated biphenyls in flatfish from the southern Baltic, 1983.

Hexachlorobenzene (HCB), alpha-, beta-, gamma- and delta-benzenehexachloride (BHC; HCH), p,p'-DDE, o,p'-DDD, o,p'-DDT, p,p'-DDD and p,p'-DDT (espilon DDT) and polychlorinated biphenlys (PCBs) levels have been determined in muscle tissue of 37 turbots Psetta maxima, 27 plaices Pleuronectes platessa and 106 flounders Platichthys flesus netted during 1983 in a different regions in the southern part of the Baltic Sea. The mean levels found for flatfish muscle tissue related to wet weight were: 0.7, 0.88 and 1.1 microgram/kg HCB; 1.3, 2.6 and 3.0 micrograms/kg alpha-BHC; 11, 10 and 11 micrograms/kg beta-BHC; 4.4, 4.9 and 5.5 micrograms/kg gamma-BHC; delta-BHC remained undetected; 17, 18 and 20 micrograms/kg epsilon BHC; 5.1, 5.2 and 8.7 micrograms/kg p,p'-DDE; o,p'-DDD remained undetected; o,p'-DDT was detected in 10 of 106 samples of the muscle tissue of flounder at the mean level of 17 micrograms/kg; 4.6, 5.0 and 7.6 micrograms/kg p,p'-DDD; 3.1, 4.0 and 11 micrograms/kg p,p'-DDT; 13, 14 and 29 micrograms/kg epsilon DDT and 71, 66 and 94 micrograms/kg PCBs for turbot, plaice and flounder, respectively. Generally, the levels of organochlorine pesticides and PCBs in wet muscle tissue of fish followed the increased lipids content of muscles. Some local differences in pollution pattern of organochlorines have occurred. The results are compared with levels found in flatfish collected in a different regions of the Baltic Sea during 1966-1981, and reported previously by other authors.