High Accumulation of Triphenyltin in Starfish: Its Application for Monitoring in the Marine Environment

Abstract

Triphenyltin (TPT) has been used as antifouling and agricultural biocides. Its toxicity is comparable to TBT, but not much data are available on TPT contamination in the marine organisms, especially top predators. Tributyltin (TBT) as well as TPT concentration in two starfish species, bivalves, and seawater samples was determined along the coasts of Korea. Both TPT and TBT concentrations in starfish ranged from 8 to 1560 ng/g and < 2 to 797 ng /g as Sn on a dry weight basis, respectively. Interestingly, percentage composition of TPT to total phenyltin concentration accounted for 75.4%, while monobutyltin, a degradation product of TBT, accounted for 86.3% of total butyltin concentration. Triphenyltin concentration in starfish demonstrated significant (p < 0.001) correlations with those in seawater and bivalves. Bioconcentration factor for TPT was one order of magnitude higher than that of TBT, and biomagnification factor for sum of three phenyltins between starfish and bivalve was approximately 1.3. Starfish could be a one of target organisms for monitoring TPT compound in the marine environment, due to its high accumulation and low degradation ability of TPT.