Hydrocarbons and Organochlorines in the Common Mussels from the Kattegat and the Belts and their Relation to Condition Indexes

The pollution loads by hydrocarbons and some organochlorines have been investigated in common mussels (Mytilus edulis L.) from the Inner Danish Waters. The ranges of pollutant concentrations were 7.5-108 mug g-1 wet wt for paraffin-naphthene(p-n-)-hydrocarbons, 10-111 ng g-1 wet wt (SIGMA14 PAH) for polyaromatic hydrocarbons, 3-328 ng g-1 wet wt (SIGMA7 chlorobiphenyl) for polychlorinated biphenyls, 2.4-67 ng g-1 wet wt for SIGMADDT, 0.3-3.1 ng g-1 wet wt for alpha-HCH, 0.6-7.4 ng g-1 wet wt for gamma-HCH and 0.05-.0.74 ng g-1 wet wt for HCB. An interpretation of the physiological parameter, the condition index (measured as the ratio of dry weight of soft tissue to (shell length)3 and 'normalized' with respect to shell length) in relation to the lipid content showed a good correlation (r = 0.76, p = 0.0001). The condition index showed a significant negative correlation with the polyaromatic hydrocarbons (SIGMA14 PAH, r = -0.48, p = 0.01) and a weaker negative correlation with the p-n-hydrocarbons (r = -0.36, p = 0.08).