POPs accumulated in fish and benthos bodies taken from Yangtze River in Jiangsu area

The persistent organic pollutants of DDTs, PCBs, PAHs and HCHs accumulated in the bodies of fish and benthos taken at seven sites were measured to understand the issue of ecological health of Yangtze River at Jiangsu section. The highest levels for DDTs, the total 20 PCBs, the total 16 PAHs and HCHs in fish bodies were 0.076 μg/kg, 23.1 μg/kg, 7.44 ng/kg and 0.028 μg/kg, respectively and that in benthos bodies were 0.082 μg/kg, 14.3 μg/kg, 21.1 ng/kg and 0.026 μg/kg. The PAHs concentrations in benthos were higher than that in fish and they had a significant positive correlation (P < 0.05). Among the detectable chemicals, DDTs were 100% of p,p′-DDE isomers, the main PCBs were 4- and 5-chlorinated biphenyls in which PCB 105 had the highest detection frequency and the main PAHs were the compounds of 2–4 rings. PCBs were accumulated in fish bodies which enrichment factors were as high as 508–42,414 folds occurred at three sites. The results demonstrated that the accumulation measurements can be used to test the effects of PAHs, DDTs, PCBs and HCHs on aquatic ecological health.