Comment on “Bioaccumulation of Methyl Siloxanes in Common Carp (Cyprinus carpio) and in an Estuarine Food Web in Northeastern China”

We have reviewed a paper titled “Bioaccumulation of Methyl Siloxanes in Common Carp (Cyprinus carpio) and in an Estuarine Food Web in Northeastern China” by Xue et al., which was published in the Archives of Environmental Contamination and Toxicology in 2019. In the paper, the authors presented and discussed the measured bioconcentration factors (BCFs), biomagnification factors (BMFs), and trophic magnification factors (TMFs) of selected volatile methylsiloxanes in Shuangtaizi estuary in China. Although we appreciate their efforts for sample collection and data analysis, we have identified significant errors in calculations of BCFs, TMFs, and BMFs, as well as animal welfare issues and food web trophic level assumptions. Based on the data, we have attempted to correct some of the analysis and offered a more complete and robust interpretation of the related data, when possible. Collectively, these errors would likely lead to very different conclusions than yours in the paper.

The influence of chemical degradation during dietary exposures to fish on biomagnification factors and bioaccumulation factors

The chemical dietary absorption efficiency (ED) quantifies the amount of chemical absorbed by an organism relative to the amount of chemical an organism is exposed to following ingestion.