Accumulation of pollutants in fish.

The amount of radioactivity which derived from 14C-labeled pollutants was determined in liver, kidney, intestine, blood, muscle and gills of carp, exposed for 6, 24 and 72 hr to high external concentrations of urea, methanol, atrazine and PCP. The results allowed one to calculate roughly the uptake rate for these compounds. It was low for urea (0.055 micrograms/g per hr), higher for methanol (0.12) and atrazine (0.16) and highest for PCP (1.5). The bioaccumulation factors (BFs) were determined for the different substances and organs. They correlated with the hydrophilic-lipophilic nature of the chemicals. The more lipophilic the substances the more accumulation occurred in the liver. PCP accumulated the most. BF was 300-400 in most tissues except muscle where it was quite low. The BF was 3-4 for atrazine in liver, kidney and intestine, but just 1 in blood, muscle and gills. There is some evidence that the BF for methanol equals 1 in liver, kidney, gills and intestine. It is less than 1 in blood and muscle. Urea was equally distributed in all organs and in the external medium.