Baseline of organotin pollution in fishes, clams, shrimps, squids and crabs collected from the west coast of India

Organotins, especially tributyltins (TBT) are highly toxic to many marine organisms. These compounds are introduced in marine waters by ship trafficking, ship scrapping activities, as antifouling compounds and sewage disposal. Marine fishes, crustaceans and molluscans are easily prone to organotins contamination. In view of this, a baseline monitoring study was conducted in order to establish the levels of organotins in edible marine fishes, bivalves, shrimps, squids and crabs collected from Mumbai, Goa and Karwar on the west coast of India. At these locations average organotin concentration found in fishes, clams, shrimps, squids and crabs was 108, 852, 179, 70 and 89 ng Sn g⁻¹ dw, respectively. In all the samples butyltins dominated over phenyltins. The levels of organotins suggest that all the organisms were contaminated with organotins and their consumption may pose health problems to humans.