UPTAKE OF POLYCHLORINATED BIPHENYL (AROCLOR 1254) FROM SEDIMENT AND FROM SEAWATER IN 2 INTER-TIDAL POLYCHAETES

Aroclor 1254 in seawater (12μg/l-1) was prepared, without the use of an organic solvent, by pumping seawater over the commercial mixture of PCB. Since the intertidal polychaetes Arenicola marina and Nereis diversicolor accumulate similar body residues whether held in 1 ppm A1254 on sand or in 1·1 μg/l-1 A1254 in seawater, there is no evidence that benthic infauna of polluted areas are more contaminated as a result of these insoluble pollutants adsorbing to their particulate habitat. However, fine sediments sequester all of these pollutants when shaken with seawater in the laboratory. Therefore, where this occurs in less polluted conditions in the field, the benthic polychaetes would become contaminated and short-term experiments indicate that body loads of PCB would persist. Intertidal polychaetes of the Norfolk coast show similar levels of PCB contamination to other species in the North Sea. © 1978.