Monitoring of tributyltin contamination of demersal fish in coastal water in East China Sea

To monitor the pollution of tributyltin (TBT) in East China Sea, five species of fish (Sphoeroides pachygaster, Dentex tumifrons, Chelidonichthys kumu, Niphon spinosus and Monocentris japonica) and two crustacean species (Charybdis miles and Ibacus ciliatus) were collected from the East China Sea on 2010. In addition, common Japanese conger (Conger myriaster) was collected from the East China Sea and Hakata Bay from June 2009 to September 2011. Aquaculture fish (Paralichthys olivaceos, Pargus major, and Trachurus japonicus) were also collected from a fish market in Fukuoka, Japan on March 10, 2010. As results, no TBT or its metabolite (dibutyltin, DBT) were detected in the blood, liver and muscle of the five species of fish, the midgut gland of the two crustaceans or the livers of conger eels collected from the East China Sea(<0.0005μg/mL or μg/g). However, TBT (0.002-0.04 μg/g) and DBT (0.008-0.06 μg/g) were detected in the livers of common Japanese conger collected from Hakata Bay. Moreover, TBT was detected in the blood of three species of cultured fish obtained from the fish market in Fukuoka at levels ranging from no detected <0.0005 μg/mL-0.21μ/mL. These results suggest that no TBT contamination occurred in the East China Sea, while common Japanese conger from Hakata Bay and cultured fish were still contaminated by TBT.