Organotin Compounds in Water, Fish and Shellfish from Rivers and Lakes

• Published in: Journal of Environmental Chemistry Vol. 15; no. 1; pp. 1 - 25
• Main Authors: TSUDA, Taizo, KAGATSUME, Toshiaki
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Japan Society for Environmental Chemistry 2005
• Subjects: fish and shellfish; lake; organotin; river; water
• ISSN: 0917-2408; 1882-5818
• DOI: 10.5985/jec.15.1

Contamination of butyltin and phenyltin compounds in water, fish and shellfish from rivers and lakes was reviewed and the bioconcentration potential of tributyltin (TBT) and triphenyltin compounds (TPT) and their contamination in the wild fish and shellfish was evaluated. The use of organotin compounds such as TBT in antifouling paints was regulated in Europe, America and Japan in the years of 1982-1992. TBT concentrations after the regulations were gradually decreasing, for example, in water from Lake Lucerne in Switzerland, in mussel from Lynher River in UK and in fish from Lake Biwa. From the recent surveys in the years of 1998 1999, the TBT concentrations of water from rivers and lakes in Japan were not widely different from those in Canada, but higher TBT concentrations were detected in a part of the rivers and lakes in China. The contamination of TBT and TPT in fish and shellfish from rivers and lakes was mostly higher than that predicted by Laboratory bioconcentration factor (BCF) of the chemicals. From the comparison between Field BCF and Laboratory BCF, it was revealed that Field BCF was as large as or larger than Laboratory BCF for both TBT and TPT in fish and TBT in shellfish (mussel) . The one reason for the difference in fish is probably because Laboratory BCF is measured mainly via gill intake but Field BCF is derived from the accumulation via gill and by oral intake.