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Contemporary Problems of Ecology

2013 year, number 3

Chlorinated Pesticides in Tissues and Organs of Spotted Seal ( Phocalargha Pallas, 1811) from the Sea of Japan

M. Trukhin1, M. D. Boyarova2
1V. I. Ilyichev Pacific Oceanological Institute FEB RAS, 690041, Vladivostok, Baltiyskaya str., 43
trukhin@poi.dvo.ru
2Paсific State Economics University, 690091, Vladivostok, Okeanskiy ave., 19
Keywords: pollution, toxic substances, chlorinated organic pesticides, HCCH, DDT, spotted seal, the Sea of Japan

Abstract

Concentrations of chlorinated hydrocarbons and their derivatives in the organs of spotted seals captured in the Sea of Japan were determined. The isomers of hexachlorocyclohexane (HCCH) and metabolites of dichlorodiphenyltrichloromethylmethane (DDT) were detected in all the studied animals in al samples but the highest concentrations were detected in adipose tissue, which is a peculiar depot in which toxins are accumulated. Substantial differences in the extent of damage by toxins were discovered in the seals of different populations, which is due to different intensities of the action of technogenic load on separate water areas. The level of accumulation of lipophil xenobiotics in the tissues and organs of spotted seals from the Sea of Japan, in particular from the Gulf of Peter the Great, turned out to be very high, several orders of magnitude higher than that in spotted seals from the Tatar Strait and the coastal region of Hokkaido. Such a high level of chlorinated organics have not yet been detected in any Pinnipeds inhabiting the northern part of the Pacific ocean. The results of our studies allow us to state that chlorinated organics are present in the ecosystem of the Sea of Japan for a long time and have undergone substantial transformation.