Environ. Sci. Technol. 1989, 23, 618-618
(7) Esser, H. 0. Pestic. Sci. 1986, 17, 265.
Damla Barcelo, * Clnta Porte, Joan Albaigis
concn, +!g of fish lipido
Environmental Chemistry Department CID-CSIC Barcelona, Spain
SIR We are pleased to respond to the above comments and to provide additional clarification of our study ( I ) . Regarding the first comment, we regret that we were unable to include all PCB congeners in this study and that congener 153 did not appear in our results. We did not imply that the congeners on which we reported data were the only components of the PCBs in the fish. We are not able to determine the percentage of congener 153 from our present data. We are, however, able to estimate total PCB concentrations in the fish by knowing the concentration of selected congeners and by knowing the percent composition of those congeners in Aroclor standards (2). We were able to use this technique to estimate total PCBs in a related publication on PCBs in Siskiwit Lake (3). The results, which can be used to compare our results with other published PCB concentrations in fish, are shown in Table I. Finally, it is clear from our field data and from the studies quoted above that PCB bioaccumulation in fish is poorly approximated by a simple linear relationship to KO,. Although we reported a significant correlation (r2= 0.46) between log BCF and log Kow(see our Figure 2) ( I ) , it is clear that KO,is only part of the picture. It remains to be seen which other physical or chemical properties (or other factors) are most important in controlling bioaccumulation in fish.
618
Environ. Sci. Technol., Vol. 23, No. 5, 1989
Table I. PCB Concentrations in Fish from Siskiwit Lake, Isle Royale, MI
LT sm LT med LT lg LT xlg av LT
4.6 6.9
WF sm WF med WF lg av WF
5.7 11 7.2
6.6 9.9 3.9 6.8
Exoressed as Aroclor 1254.
Registry No. 2,2',4,4',5,5'-Hexachlorobiphenyl, 35065-27-1; biphenyl, 92-52-4.
Literature Cited Swackhamer,D. L.; Hites, R. A. Enuiron. Sci. Technol. 1988, 22, 543.
Mullin, M. D.PCB Workshop, U S . EPA, Grosse Ile, MI, 1985. Swackhamer, D. L.; McVeety, B. D.; Hites, R. A. Enuiron. Sci. Technol. 1988, 22, 664.
Deborah L. Swackhamer School of Public Health University of Minnesota Minneapolis, Minnesota 55455
Ronald A. Hltes" School of Public and Environmental Affairs and Department of Chemistry Indiana University Bloomington, Indiana 47405
0013-936X/89/0923-0618$01.50/0
0 1989 American Chemical Society
