Analysis of POPs content in five dead Yangtze finless porpoises in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River

Abstract:

To figure out the concentration of POPs(Persistent organic pollutants) in Yangtze Finless porpoise,Neophocaena asiaeorientalis, in the lower Yangtze River, we used gas chromatography mass spectrometry detector (GC-MS) to check the concentration of Hexachlorocyclohexanes(HCH)、Dichlorodiphenyltrichloroe-thanes(DDT)and Polychlorinated biphenyls(PCBs) in heart, kidney, lung, liver, muscle, skin, fat, stomach and intestine sampled from 5 Yangtze Finless porpoised dead in wild.The results showed that the overall variation ranges of HCH, DDT and PCBs were ND-0.31 μg/g, ND-19.57 μg/g and ND-1.23 μg/g, respectively.HCH was the highest in fat and the lowest in kidney, DDT was the highest in skin and the lowest in intestine, PCBs was the highest in skin, and the lowest in lung.Their average levels were higher in males than in females, and there was no correlation between different age groups.The average contents of DDT and PCBs in Yangtze River group were higher than those in the Poyang Lake group, while the average contents of HCH in the lower reaches of the Yangtze River group were opposite.Research shows that the accumulation characteristics of POPs in the Yangtze finless porpoise is related to their physiological characteristics and living environment, therefore this study could provide research material for understanding accumulation of POPs of the Yangtze finless porpoise in the downstream of Yangtze River and identifying the cause of death in the Yangtze finless porpoise, individual traceability and habitat evaluation in the future.