Arsenic speciation in sea scallop gonads

The arsenic species in male and female sea scallop gonads (Placopecten mage llanicus) at pre-spawning and post-spawning stages, collected near Newfound land, Canada, were characterized by using high-performance liquid chromatog raphy-inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry, All samples contain ars enobetaine (0.5-3.0 mug g(-1)) and a dimethylarsinoylriboside derivative as the major water-soluble arsenic compounds. Male pre-spawning gonads contai n 0.35-2.4 mug g(-1) of the dimethylarsinoylriboside, Female pre-spawning g onads contain 0.47-9.64 mug g(-1) of the same compound. Postspawning gonads , both male and female, contain higher concentrations of this compound (3.7 -11.4 mug g(-1)). The total concentrations of water-soluble arsenic compoun ds are different in male and female pre-spawning gonads. These differences are not obvious in post-spawning gonads. Post-spawning gonads contain highe r total concentrations of water-soluble arsenic compounds than pre-spawning gonads. Copyright (C) 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.