KORN ET AL.: UPTAKE AND DEPURATION OF "C-BENZENE 



likely, at least after exposure from the water. 

 Exposure from the ingestion of food organisms 

 may result in a different metabolic process, how- 

 ever, and this work should be done before further 

 conclusions are made. Our results from uptake 

 studies with a rotifer (Brachionus plicatilus) 

 (Echeverria^) and those of Lee, Sauerheber, and 

 Benson (1972) and Lee (1975) with mollusks and 

 zooplankton indicate that some invertebrates may 

 be unable to metabolize aromatic hydro- 

 carbons—accumulating them to very high levels 

 and depurating them slowly. Fish feeding on such 

 organisms may be exposed to high and potentially 

 damaging levels of aromatics. 



Additional chronic uptake studies under contin- 

 uous-flow conditions are needed. Analyses of 

 metabolites are proceeding and will be reported 

 later. 



ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 



We acknowledge the considerable assistance of 

 other members of the Physiology Investigation, 

 Tiburon Laboratory, particularly Pete Benville, 

 Jr., for gas chromatography analyses. We also 

 thank Stanley Rice, Northwest Fisheries Center 

 Auke Bay Fisheries Laboratory, NMFS, NOAA; 

 and Jerry M. Neff, Texas A & M University, for 

 their critical reviews of the manuscript. 



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