Levels, patterns, trends and significance of polychlorinated naphthalenes (PCNs) in Great Lakes fish

• Published in: The Science of the total environment 2018-05, Vol.624, p.499-508
• Main Authors: Gewurtz, Sarah B., Gandhi, Nilima, Drouillard, Ken G., Kolic, Terry, MacPherson, Karen, Reiner, Eric J., Bhavsar, Satyendra P.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Animals; Environmental Monitoring; Fish consumption; Fishes; Great Lakes; Great Lakes Region; Lakes - chemistry; Naphthalenes - analysis; Polychlorinated naphthalene PCN; Spatial and temporal trends; Water Pollutants, Chemical - analysis
• ISSN: 0048-9697; 1879-1026
• DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2017.11.332

•PCNs were measured in fillets of 18 species of Great Lakes fish in Canadian waters.•Spatial trend was: the Detroit River>Lakes Erie>Ontario>Huron>Superior.•Major congeners PCN-66/67 likely declined by 24–77% between 2006/07 and 2012.•PCNs typically contribute 2–13% to ∑TEQ (dioxins, furans, dioxin-like PCBs, PCNs).•Wholebody PCNs were 1.4–3.2× higher than the fillets; likely driven by lipid content. PCNs are not the major concern for consuming Great Lakes fish. [Display omitted] Lakes fish. Polychlorinated naphthalenes (PCNs) were introduced to market about a century ago and their production is thought to have ceased by the early 1980s. However, relatively limited knowledge exists on their abundance in the edible portion of a variety of Great Lakes fish to aid in understanding their potential risk to human consumers. We studied levels, patterns, trends and significance of PCNs in a total 470 fillet samples of 18 fish species collected from the Canadian waters of the Great Lakes between 2006 and 2013. A limited comparison of fillet and wholebody concentrations in Carp and Bullhead was also conducted. The ∑PCN ranged from 0.006–6.7ng/g wet weight (ww) and 0.15–190ng/g lipid weight (lw) with the dominant congeners being PCN-52/60 (34%), -42 (21%) and -66/67 (15%). The concentrations spatially varied in the order of the Detroit River>Lakes Erie>Ontario>Huron>Superior. PCN-66/67 was the dominating congener contributing on average 76–80% of toxic equivalent concentration (TEQPCN). Contribution of TEQPCN to TEQTotal (TEQDioxins+Furans+dioxin-likePCBs+PCNs) was mostly