Factors affecting the elimination of PCBs in the marine copepod Acartia tonsa

The effects of feeding, egg laying, and fecal pellet production on the elimination of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) from the marine copepod Acartia tonsa were studied in a series of experiments. Copepods were exposed to ¹⁴C-labelled Aroclor 1254 and allowed to depurate in clean seawater. Copepods fed during depuration eliminated PCBs more rapidly than unfed copepods whether or not the original PCB exposure medium had contained food. Both eggs and fecal pellets contained PCBs during depuration, with the weight specific concentration of PCB in the eggs (up to 407 ppm, dry weight) exceeding four times that in the females that produced them. Female copepods eliminated PCBs twice as rapidly as males, indicating that egg production is an important route for PCB elimination.