THE SOURCE OF BROMOPHENOLS IN SOME SPECIES OF AUSTRALIAN OCEAN FISH

The carcass and gut contents of 10 species of fish caught along the ea stern coast of Australia were analysed by gas chromatography-multiple ion detection-mass spectrometry for a range of bromophenols including 2- and 4-bromophenol, 2,4- and 2,6-dibromophenol and 2,4,6-tribromophe nol. These bromophenols, the cause of iodoform-like off-flavours in se afoods, were found in eight of the above species; the largest total co ncentrations of bromophenols occurred in the commercially important sp ecies Nemadactylus douglasii (40 ng/g), The concentrations of bromophe nols in another three species Branchiostegus wardi, Rhabdosargus sarba , and Girella tricuspidata, were found to exceed 10 ng/g while in a fu rther four species their concentrations varied between 3 and 8 ng/g. H owever, these compounds were not identified in the remaining two speci es at a detection limit of 0.05 ng/g. The variations among fish diets suggest that the bromophenol content of individual fish can be explain ed by the relative contribution of benthic organisms and marine algae to the fish diet. Bromophenols were found in all of the benthic carniv ores and diverse omnivores examined but were not detected in pelagic c arnivorous fish.