ORGANOCHLORINES IN PLEURONECTIDAE - COMPARISON BETWEEN 3 TISSUES OF 3SPECIES INHABITING THE NORTHWEST ATLANTIC

Muscle, liver, and gonad from three species of flatfish, turbot, Ameri can plaice, and yellowtail flounder collected in the Northwest Atlanti c were analyzed for a variety of organo-chlorine contaminants. Female flounder and plaice had lower concentrations of organochlorines than m ales, in all tissues. Comparing values to those previously obtained fo r Atlantic cod showed that concentrations in liver, the organ most oft en used in biomarker studies, followed the order: cod > turbot > plaic e > flounder and correlated with lipid content. Muscle concentrations, which are important from a consumers perspective, followed the order tubot > plaice > flounder > cod and were also correlated with lipids. The concentration of contaminants in gonads, the organ that informs on the future of a species were nearly undetectable. Cluster analyses de monstrated that the environmental behaviour of these contaminants can be subdivided into groups, consistent with their known chemical origin . Of the series of total and specific polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxin s and furans studied, only tetrachlorodibenzofuran was present in most tissues.