HYDROCARBONS, PESTICIDES, PCB AND PAH IN PORT-PHILLIP BAY (VICTORIA) SAND FLATHEAD

Petroleum hydrocarbons, the chlorinated pesticides dieldrin, DDT, DDE and DDD, and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCB) present as aroclors 1254 and 1260, were widespread contaminants in the axial muscle tissue and liver of sand flathead (Platyephalus bassensis Cuvier & Valenciennes) from Port Phillip Bay, Victoria. The pesticides lindane and heptachlor were found patchily throughout the Bay. Fillet and liver samples cont ained very low or undetectable levels of selected polyaromatic hydroca rbons (PAH) and benzo(a)pyrene (B(a)P) metabolites. There appeared to be a trend where sand flathead from the deeper sites had slightly high er levels of contamination.