Caged mussels and semipermeable membrane devices as indicators of organic contaminant uptake in Dorchester and Duxbury Bays, Massachusetts

An experiment to measure organic contaminant depuration by the blue mussel (Mytilus edulis) was carried out by transplanting mussels in stainless steel cages from a known contaminated site in Dorchester Bay, Massachusetts to a documented clean site in Duxbury Bay, Massachusetts approximately 30 nmi south of the original collection site. A parallel contaminant uptake experiment was performed in which mussels from Duxbury Bay were collected and deployed in similar cages in Dorchester Bay. The bivalves were collected from each transplant site at set intervals over a period of 95 days to monitor the rates and selectivity of depuration and uptake, respectively, of polynuclear aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH), polychlorinated biphenyls (PCB), and chlorinated pesticides. In a related study, semipermeable membrane devices (SPMD: polyethylene bags) containing the lipid material triolein were deployed in Dorchester Bay and collected at the same frequency as the caged mussels to evaluate their effectiveness as models for estimating bioconcentration of target organic contaminants. At the Duxbury site, results suggest that the caged mussels depurated contaminants within 68 days to levels found in native animals at the site. At the Dorchester site, bivalves concentrated the contaminants to a level similar to the native M. edulis. PCB and DDT uptake rates were found to be similar between caged mussels and SPMDs; PAH uptake by the SPMDs was initially lower than by transplanted bivalves. PCB and PAH assemblages were noticeably different between bivalves and SPMDs deployed at the same site.