Occurrence, Bioaccumulation, and Trophic Transfer of Short-Chain Chlorinated Paraffins (SCCPs) in a Marine Food Web from Laizhou Bay, Bohai Sea (Eastern China).

Short-chain chlorinated paraffins (SCCPs) are a persistent organic pollutant, and limited information is available on their bioaccumulation and trophic transfer, which would be affected by carbon chain length, chlorine content, and hydrophobicity. In this study, relevant data on SCCPs in water, sediments, and organisms collected from Laizhou Bay were analyzed to investigate the specific distribution of SCCPs and their bioaccumulation and trophic transfer. In water and sediments, the average SCCP concentrations (ΣSCCPs) were 362.23 ± 81.03 ng/L and 609.68 ± 90.28 ng/g d.w., respectively. In 28 species of organisms, the ΣSCCPs varied from 70.05 to 47,244.13 ng/g l.w. (average = 648 ± 7360) and the predominant homologs were C (average = 34.91%) and Cl (average = 93.13%), differing from those in water (average = C 32.75% and average = Cl 88%) and sediments (average = C 31.60% and average = Cl 87.16%). The logarithm bioaccumulation factors (BAFs) of ΣSCCPs were 1.18-2.74 and were positively correlated with the log K. A significant negative linear relationship was observed between biota-sediment accumulation factors (BSAFs) and log K. It is suggested that the hydrophobicity may affect the bioaccumulation of SCCPs. SCCPs demonstrated a trophic magnification factor (TMF) ranging from 2.19 to 3.00 (average = 2.51) and exhibited a significant linear correlation with carbon chain length ( < 0.05) and log K values ( < 0.05), suggesting that SCCPs have biomagnification potential in Laizhou Bay that is affected by hydrophobicity and carbon chain length.