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Vol. 53 - Alaska Resources Library and Information Services

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2. HYDROCARBON BIOACCUMULATION<br />

2.1 Materials <strong>and</strong> Methods<br />

Specimens of Mya truncata, Serripes groenl<strong>and</strong>icus, <strong>and</strong> Astarte borealis were<br />

collected, when available in sufficient numbers, from the 3-meter <strong>and</strong> 7-meter transects<br />

in all four bays (Figure 2.1) at three sampling times, immediately pre-spill, immediately<br />

post-spill, <strong>and</strong> approximately two weeks after the experimental spills. Animals were<br />

wrapped in aluminum foil <strong>and</strong> frozen for air shipment to the laboratory.<br />

Aromatic hydrocarbons <strong>and</strong> sulfur heterocyclics in tissues were analyzed by<br />

gas chromatography/mass spectrometry/data systems (GC/MS/DS). In order to<br />

investigate the polycyclic aromatic nitrogen heterocyclic (PANH) composition <strong>and</strong><br />

content of the tissue, sample extracts from molluscs taken along the two depth strata<br />

were pooled <strong>and</strong> analyzed by GC/MS for PANH.<br />

Very briefly, the analytical methods used were identical to those of<br />

Boehm, Barak, Fiest <strong>and</strong> Elskus (1982), a modification of the Warner (1976)<br />

alkaline digestion-extraction procedure. After fractionating the extract on<br />

an alumina-silica acid column, the saturated <strong>and</strong> aromatic hydrocarbons were<br />

analyzed by capillary GC <strong>and</strong> computer-assisted GC/MS (GD/MS/DS).<br />

GS/MS/DS analyses focused on the two- to five-ringed aromatic compounds.<br />

PANH analyses involved the GC/MS analysis of an aqueous acid extract of the<br />

total extractable (solvent) lipids, which had been neutralized <strong>and</strong> back<br />

extracted with solvent to recover the basic PANH compounds.<br />

2.2 Results<br />

Results from Boehm (1982) of analyses of total saturate <strong>and</strong> aromatic<br />

hydrocarbons in five species of bivalves, including the three species treated in detail in<br />

this report, are summarized in Table 2.1. The three filter-feeders, Mya truncata, Serripes<br />

groenl<strong>and</strong>icus, <strong>and</strong> Astarte borealis from the bays receiving dispersed oil (Bays 7, 9 <strong>and</strong><br />

10) rapidly accumulated petroleum hydrocarbons to high levels within a few days of the<br />

spills. In Bay 11 which received undispersed oil, these species accumulated petroleum<br />

hydrocarbons more slowly. Animals from the three bays receiving dispersed oil, released<br />

15

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