engleski

Levels of polychlorinated biphenyls and organochlorine pesticides in the Mediterranean blue mussel from the Adriatic Sea

The Mediterranean blue mussel (lat. Mytilus galloprovincialis) is the most frequent shellfish in the Adriatic Sea and an important foodstuff. Furthermore, as it has a great capacity to accumulate organic contaminants, it is used worldwide as an indicator of environmental pollution. Pollution data are easy to compare because of their wide geographic distribution and weak mobility. At the Mali Ston Bay shellfish cultivation has been known for several centuries. The aim of this study was to investigate spatial and temporal variations of 17 congeners of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and 7 organochlorine pesticides (OCPs) in the edible tissue of mussels from the Mali Ston Bay. As expected, this study reports lower PCB and OCP levels than reported elsewhere, but it also shows that PCBs and OCPs are present even in marine areas away from big cities or harbours. Levels reported in this study do not raise concern and are in agreement with global environment contamination with organochlorine compounds.

Mediterranean blue mussel; organochlorine pesticides; polychlorinated biphenyls

nije evidentirano