Organochlorines in Greenland marine fish, mussels and sediments.

Shorthorn sculpin (Myoxocephalus scorpius), polar cod (Boreogadus saida), blue mussels (Mytilus edulis) and sediments were sampled in Greenland 1994-1995 at three locations at the west coast and one at the east coast. Fish liver, mussel soft tissue and sediments were analysed for PCBs (10 congeners), DDTs (pp,'), HCHs (alpha, beta, gamma), HCB and trans-nonachlor. The overall geometric mean concentrations found for PCBs were 17 micrograms kg-1 wet wt. in shorthorn sculpin liver, 33 micrograms kg-1 wet wt. in polar cod liver, and 0.86 microgram kg-1 wet wt. in blue mussels. For the three species, the geometric mean concentrations for DDTs were 11, 36, and 0.39 micrograms kg-1 wet wt., respectively; for HCHs: 8.7, 32 and 0.56 micrograms kg-1 wet wt., respectively; for HCB: 4.2, 11 and 0.06 micrograms kg-1 wet wt., respectively; and for trans-nonachlor: 6.3, 19 and 0.16 microgram kg-1 wet wt., respectively. All organochlorines in the sediment samples were below the detection limit of 0.1 microgram kg-1 dry weight. For sculpins and mussels, most organochlorine compounds were found to increase with increasing lipid content. The weight of mussels did not influence organochlorine concentrations, whereas organochlorine content in general increased with fish length of sculpins. The concentrations were found to be comparable to levels in other Arctic regions, but orders of magnitude lower than levels found in the southern part of the North Sea. Organochlorine concentrations in sculpins showed a decreasing trend following the ocean current flowing from north to south at the east coast and from south towards north at the west coast of Greenland. The proportion of higher chlorinated PCBs (Cl atoms > or = 6) in sculpin liver followed the decreasing trend of PCB concentrations.