Residual levels, tissue distribution and risk assessment of organochlorine pesticides (OCPs) in edible fishes from Taihu Lake, China

Tissue distribution and bioaccumulation of organochlorine pesticides (OCPs) in edible fishes collected from Taihu Lake, Cyprinus carpio (C. carpio) and Ctenopharyngodon idellus (C. idellus), were studied. OCPs were detected in all samples with hexachlorocyclohexanes (HCHs), aldrins (including aldrin, dieldrin, endrin, endrin aldehyde, and endrin ketone), heptachlors (heptachlor and heptachlor epoxide) and dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethanes (DDTs) being the predominant compounds for both fish species. Gill and gonad were found to be the dominant tissues for OCP bioaccumulation followed by liver, while muscle showed the least affinity of OCPs for both fishes. Tissue distribution indicated the exchange of contaminants between water and gill, as well as the food intake from environment were the dominant pathways for OCP bioaccumulation in gill-breathing fish, and the following tissue distribution was affected by both the physiological properties of target tissues and physicochemical characteristics of pesticides. OCP residues in fish were species-specific (45.63–1575.26 ng/g dry weight (dw) for C. idellus; 8.40–60.23 ng/g dw for C. carpio) mainly due to the growth rate of individuals as well as the metabolic capacity difference among species. HCHs and DDTs observed in fishes from Taihu Lake were comparable and moderate with other reported places in China. Human exposure risk assessment performed with the estimated daily intake values demonstrated the consumption of target fish species in Taihu Lake at present was safe.