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PCBs, PCDD/Fs AND PBDEs IN SPIDER CRABS
COMPARISON WITH MUSSEL AND SEA BASS
CONTAMINATION
N. Bodin, A. Abarnou, A-M. Le Guellec
Département Biogéochimie et Ecotoxicologie,
IFREMER, Centre de Brest - BP70 - 29280 Plouzané,
France Nathalie.Bodin_at_ifremer.fr

• Objectives
• PCBs, PCDD/Fs and PBDEs are very persistent and
  toxic pollutants for marine organisms and humans.
  However, very little information is available on
  the presence of these compounds in exploited
  decapod crustaceans from the French waters. This
  study allowed
• to obtain first data on PCB, PCDD/F and PBDE
  levels and distribution in the spider crab Maja
  brachydactyla. This crustacean species was chosen
  because of its important commercial interest in
  certain French regions like Brittany and
  Normandy.
• to contribute to a better understanding of the
  factors acting on the distribution of these
  contaminants in crustaceans. For that purpose,
  spider crab contamination was compared to that of
  mussels, considered as good indicators of marine
  pollution, and that of sea basses, because fishes
  are known to be able to biotransform some
  contaminants.

• Sampling and analysis
• Spider crabs were collected in February 2003 on
  five sampling areas Antifer (Seine Bay) where
  RNO measured the highest PCB levels in mussels
  since 70s, and the others along the Brittany and
  Normandy coasts which are very little
  contaminated by such man-made compounds.
• Mussels Mytilus edulis and sea basses
  Dicentrarchus labrax were collected at Antifer
  (Seine Bay) in February 2003.
• For spider crabs and sea basses, analyses were
  performed on muscle for mussels, the whole soft
  body were analysed.
• ? The 17 toxic 2378-substituted PCDD/Fs, 7
  indicator PCBs, 12 dioxin-like PCBs and 13 PBDEs
  were analysed by high resolution GC-MS.

Spider crab contamination

• PCDD/Fs

• ? At Antifer, PCDFs represent 75 of ?17PCDD/Fs,
  oppositely to other sites (PCDFs 40-45).
• ? In all cases, OCDD (D7) and 1234678-HpCDD (D6)
  are prevalent among PCDDs. For PCDFs, 2378-TCDF
  (F1) and 23478-PeCDF (F3) are main compounds.

• ? All contaminants present higher levels in
  specimen from Antifer which confirms a chronic
  pollution of the whole Seine Bay mainly due to
  contaminant inputs by the Seine River.
• PCB concentrations measured at Antifer are 6 to
  20 higher than those from the other sites. For
  PCDD/Fs and PBDEs, they exceed only by a factor 3
  to 5.
• Total TEQ varies from 0.7 (Granville) to 6.8
  (Antifer). Moreover, the contribution of DL-PCBs
  to the Total TEQ is nearly 2 times higher in
  crustaceans than that of PCDD/Fs.

? PCBs and PBDEs

• Similar patterns are observed whatever the site
  and the contamination level.
• For PCBs, main compounds are CB153gt
  CB118gtCB180gtCB138.
• For PBDEs, major congeners are BDE47gt
  BDE99gtBDE100gtBDE28.

X/BDE47100
Contamination comparison between organisms
The comparison of contamination of three species
(mussel, spider crab and sea bass) collected in
the same period and area (February at Antifer)
allowed to evaluate the influence of biological
factors on the distribution of PCB, PCDD/F, and
PBDE. These three organisms were selected because
of their different trophic level, feeding mode
and metabolisation capacities.
PBDEs
PCBs
X/BDE47100
PCDD/Fs

• CB153 is always the main congener in all samples
  and represents 40-50 of ?18PCBs.
• Mussels and sea basses show similar PCB patterns
  with predominance of CB153, CB101, CB118 and
  CB138. However, different levels of CB180 are
  observed due to the different feeding mode of
  these species.
• For spider crabs, the main congeners are the
  CB118 and CB180. The slight presence of CB52,
  CB101 and CB138 compared to mussels argue for the
  biotransformation of these compounds by spider
  crab.

• BDE47 is the main compound in all samples. For
  mussels and spider crabs, it represents 60 of
  ?13PBDEs, against 80 in sea basses.
• The other major congeners are the BDE28, BDE99,
  BDE100, BDE153, BDE154, BDE183.
• The BDE99 can theoretically be metabolised in
  BDE47 by debromination processes. The profiles
  show that sea basses have greater metabolisation
  capacities than crustaceans, and the last ones
  higher than mussels for this congener.

• Very different dioxin patterns are observed
  between the three species. In mussels, PCDDs (60
  of ?17PCDD/Fs) gt PCDFs, oppositely to spider
  crabs and sea basses (PCDDs 25 of ?17PCDD/Fs).
• As well greater levels of highly toxic congeners
  (2378-TCDF (F1), 23478-PeCDF (F3)), as lower
  concentrations of OCDD (D7) in spider crabs and
  sea basses suggested the enzyme induction in
  these species compared to mussels.

Conclusion ? The highest contaminant levels
in spider crab muscle were measured at Antifer
(Seine Bay). However, even those do not raise any
sanitary problems based on the fixed TDI for
PCDD/Fs and DL-PCBs at 2.33 pg TEQ.kg-1b.w. per
day (JECFA, 2002), and for 7 indicator PCBs at
0.01 µg. kg-1b.w. per day (AFSSA, 2003). ?
The PCB and PBDE distributions are
species-dependant (influence of trophic level,
feeding mode and metabolisation capacities), and
are not related with the geographical situation
and contamination levels. ? PCDD/F patterns
are also species-dependant, although differences
were observed in spider crabs from Antifer and
the other sampling areas. The very important PCB
levels measured at Antifer and the possible
traces of PCDFs in technical PCB mixtures, could
increase their concentrations in the environment
but also modify their distribution in the biota.