Research Articles

Semipermeable membrane sampling devices (SPMDs) and caged lake mussels (Anodonta piscinalis) were simultaneously deployed at four lake watercourse sites in central Finland for four weeks in August 1992. The study was part of the regular annual monitoring of the organochlorine compounds (OCC) in pulp-mill recipient watercourses of Finland with bivalves. Chlorohydrocarbons (CHCs), chlorophenol compounds (PCPs), chloroanisoles (PCAs) and chloroveratroles (PCVs) were analyzed from lipid extract of mussels and from the synthetic triolein lipid of the SPMDs. Hexane-diethyl ether (9:1; v/v) dialysis using polyethylene membrane was applied in clean up of the SPMD lipids and, for comparison, to six sets of the mussel fat. Dialysis recovered CHCs but not PCPs from the mussel fat. CHCs, PCPs, PCAs and PCVs were all recovered in dialysis of the SPMD lipid. Handing of SPMDs in the transport and deployment operations caused significant OCC contamination for the blank SPMDs. Similar trends were revealed in the OCC profiles for mussels and SPMDs. An exception was the lack of PCPs appearing in SPMDs that did not appear in mussels and in a complementary manner that appearance of the PCAs and PCVs in SPMDs.