POPs in key species of Marine Antarctic ecosystems

Average PCB concentrations in these samples were much higher (167±85 ng g–1 wet wt.), and congener- specific PCB profiles showed a prevalence of low-chlorinated isomers (tetra-PCBs accounted for most of the 48 residue).

This pattern differed from that usually detected in organisms from low and mid latitudes, and it was likely due to global fractionation at high latitudes. Isomer patterns in organisms from the Ross Sea were similar to those of Kanechlor, a technical mixture mostly used in Japan and other eastern Asian countries, roughly located at the longitude of the Ross Sea. On a lipid weight basis, concentrations of total polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins (PCDDs) and dibenzofurans (DFs) in the same krill samples were 27 pg g–1, and those of non- and mono-ortho-substituted polychlorinated biphenyls (dioxin-like PCBs) were 0.9 ng g–1.