Octachlorostyrene - a permanent micropollutant in the North Sea

Octachlorostyrene could be identified and quantified in fish, water and sediment of the North Sea and adjacent estuaries by high resolution gas chromatography and mass spectrometry. Lipid related octachlorostyrene levels in livers of various fish ranged from 20 to 3700 ng/g lipid. Comparing levels from 1972 and 1983 no remarkable differences could be observed among the samples investigated. In fish livers originating from the Mediterranaen, North Atlantic and the Red Sea octachlorostyrene was not detectable.