FATE OF PETROLEUM HYDROCARBONS IN MARINE ZOOPLANKTON
ABSTRACT Several groups of zooplankton from the coasts of California, British Columbia, and in the Arctic, including copepods, euphausiids, amphipods, crab zoea, ctenophores, and jellyfish rapidly took up 3H-benzpyrene, 14C-benzpyrene, 3H-methylcholanthrene, and 14Cnaphthalene from seawater solution. These hydrocarbons were metabolized to various hydroxylated and more polar metabolites by crustaceans but not by ctenophores or jellyfish. Up to 22 × 0−4 µg of benzpyrene was ingested by the temperate water copepod Calanus plumchrus, and transfer of this copepod to fresh seawater resulted in the discharge of most benzpyrene with less than 1 × 10−5 µg remaining after 17 days. When depuration was continued beyond 17 days, no further hydrocarbon loss was observed. Calanus hyperboreus from the Arctic took up to 11 × 10−4 µg of 3H-benzpyrene and a 28-day depuration experiment still showed the presence of benzpyrene in the copepod although again less than 1 × 10−5 µg.