VALIDATION OF THE BLUBBER BIOPSY TECHNIQUE FOR MONITORING OF ORGANOCHLORINE CONTAMINANTS IN BALAENOPTERID WHALES

Techniques for collecting small biopsies front the outer strata of the blubber of live whales have been used to monitor chemical contaminant concentrations in cetaceans. In older to validate this monitoring tec hnique, polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and other organochlorine (OCs ) compounds were analysed in blubber mantle samples collected from dif ferent body sites on the carcasses of three minke whales (Balaenoptera acurostrata) and one blue whale (Balaenoptera musculus). Wizen concen tration data were lipid normalized (ng/g lipid), concentrations of PCB s and other OCs in outer, middle and inner blubber mantle layers, and in different body sampling locations on the clean whales were not sign ificantly different (p greater than or equal to 0.05). Patterns of PCB s and OCs were also similar in the different blubber strata and body s ampling sites. Similar PCB and OC concentrations and patterns were als o found in samples of the outer and middle blubber strata that were co llected by the biopsy technique from live minke (n=2) and blue (n=3) w hales. The absence of significant differences in the lipid-normalized concentrations and patterns of contamination in the blubber indicate t hat the distribution of PCBs and OCs in the blubber mantle of balaenop terid whales is principally governed by the lipid content. This is con sistent with pharmacokinetic models describing the distribution at equ ilibrium of lipophilic compounds in experimental animals. Consequently , biopsies which include only the outer blubber layer at one site on t he blubber mantle call provide a representative sample for monitoring PCB and OC contaminations of blubber in balaenopterid whales. Copyrigh t (C) 1996 Elsevier Science Ltd