Abstract:
The residues of dichloro-diphenyl-trichloroethane (DDTs) in tissues of ginkgo-toothed beaked whale (
Mesoplodon ginkgodens) collected from Honghai Bay, Guangdong province, China was analyzed by gas chromatography. The test system was composed of Agilent 6890 N gas chromatography, a DB-1701 capillary column (30 m×0.32 mm×0.25 μm), and a
63Ni micro electric capture detector. The results showed that contents of ∑DDT (
pp′-DDT,
pp′-DDE,
pp′-DDD and
op-DDT) ranged from 15.2 to 177.1 μg ·kg
-1 (wet weight), and positively related to lipid content in different tissues (
R=0.9968,
P < 0.01).The ∑DDT contents in tissues from high to low were blubber, liver, stomach, heart, kidney, muscle, pancreas and lung. Compared with other cetaceans in different waters, the content level of ∑DDT in the blubber of this whale sample was relatively low and harmless. The average ratio of DDE/∑DDT,
pp′-DDT/
op-DDT were equal to 0.27 and 5.7, respectively, which indicated that DDT might be newly imported to Honghai Bay, possibly through the use of DDT-contained chemicals and the release of DDT residue from the environment.