Baseline studies of the global pollution. I. Occurrence of organohalogens in pristine European and antarctic aquatic environments.

Pristine Alpian fresh water lakes with no run off were selected to monitor the atmospheric fall-out of C6--C12 -organochlorine compounds. Off-shore marine areas were taken for monitoring the average marine pollution by these compounds. In both cases fishes have been used as bioextractors. The analytical work-up combines solvent-partition, liquid chromatography and glass capillary gas chromatography with the electron capture detector. The idenfification is done by matching high-resilution retention indices of unknowns with those of reference compounds. The following compounds could be identified in the spawn of arctic chars (Salvelinus alpinus) caught in off-road Alpian lakes as well as in the liver of predatory antarctic cod (Dissostichus eleginoides) caught near South Georgia, as well as in Peru fish oil and crude sperm oil: hexachlorobenzene alpha-, beta-, gamma-hexachlorocyclohexane; 4,4'-DDT; 4,4'-DDE; 4,4'-DDD; 2,4'-DDE; 2,4'-DDD; heptachloroepoxide; polychlorobiphenyls (PCB) and polychlorocamphenes. Concentrations are given in nanogram/gram total lipid extract (ppb). First value Salvelinus (Alps), second value Dissostich (Antarctic Ocean), alpha-HCH: 40/0,1; beta-HCH: 4,1/0,1; gamma-HCH: 17,2/0,1; HCB: 65/8; 4,4'-DDT: 59/4; 4,4'-DDE: 477/5; sigma DDT 646/11,4; sigma PCB: 1030/32; sigma PCC: 124/68.