North Carolina. The northerly distribution for 

 these species may be indicative of larval transport 

 patterns via currents, i.e.. Gulf Stream (Williams 

 1974 ). Another significant element, as proposed by 

 Norse (1977). is the presence of summer tempera- 

 tures in excess of 20°C required for the hatching 

 of eggs and larval development. 



Acknow k'cignicnts 



We express appreciation to Austin B. Williams 

 for his confirmation of the C. nuir\^inatiis speci- 

 mens, and Elliott A. Norse for his identification of 

 the C. danae specimens. The study was funded by 

 Carolina Power and Light Company. 



Literature Cited 



Norse, E. A. 



1977. Aspects of the zoogeographic distribution of Cal- 

 linectes (Brachyura: Portunidae). Bull. Mar. Sci. 

 27:440-447. 



Williams, A. B. 



1974. The swimming crabs of the genus Ca/Z/^fc^t's (Deca- 

 poda: Portunidae). Fish. Bull., U.S. 72:685-798. 



PETER W. PERSCHBACHER 



Frank J. Schwartz 



Institute of Marine Sciences 

 University of North Carolina 

 Morehead City. NC 28557 



ANALYSIS OF CHLORINATED HYDROCARBON 



POLLUTANTS: A SIMPLIFIED EXTRACTION 



AND CLEANUP PROCEDURE FOR 



FISHERY PRODUCTS 



Fishery scientists wishing to quantitate chlori- 

 nated hydrocarbons find a multitude of methods 

 only marginally appropriate to the routine 

 analysis of marine fishery products. This paper is a 

 laboratory manual, delineating details of a sim- 

 ple, rapid, and reliable method for the extraction 

 and cleanup of samples of fish, fishery products, 

 and paper for analysis of chlorinated hydrocar- 

 bons, such as PCB,' dieldrin, and DDT and its 



'Abbreviations used in this paper: DDE — p, p'-dichlorodi- 

 phenyldichloroethylene; DDMU — ^p, p'-dichlorodiphenylchloro- 

 ethylene; DDT^a, p'-dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane; IPA — 

 isopropyl alcohol: PCB — polychlorinated biphenyls (Aroclor 

 1254 was used as the standard for PCB): and TDE— p, p'- 

 dichlorodiphenyldichloroethane. The o, p '-isomers of DDT and 



metabolites TDE and DDE. The procedures can be 

 adapted to a great variety of sample types. The 

 method is economical since small amounts of sol- 

 vents are used and the equipment and glassware 

 are relatively inexpensive and readily available. 



Chlorinated hydrocarbon analysis in marine 

 fishery products is an extremely complex proce- 

 dure requiring extensive knowledge and many 

 years of experience to perfect. A number of 

 specialized problems, uncommon in the prepara- 

 tion of foodstuffs and freshwater fish for analyses 

 of chlorinated hydrocarbons by the established 

 methods, occur during the isolation of such mate- 

 rials from marine fish and fishery products. For 

 example, the official method of the Association of 

 Official Analytical Chemists (Horowitz 1970; Por- 

 ter et al. 1970) often requires IV2 days for the 

 initial extraction of marine fish oil because of in- 

 tractable emulsions. After purification, the final 

 extracts still contain substances which cause the 

 rapid loss of sensitivity of the electron-capture 

 detector and decomposition of the column packing 

 in the gas-liquid chromatographic system. The 

 procedure described in this paper eliminates ex- 

 traction offish oil and provides final extracts freer 

 of extraneous substances. In the course of analyz- 

 ing over 2,000 samples we have found it suitable 

 for routine analysis of marine fishery products. 



The method was first developed by Robert 

 Reinert (Reinert 1970; Snyder and Reinert 1971). 

 We have refined it to maximize recovery of chlori- 

 nated hydrocarbons and have adapted it to new 

 types of samples, such as fishmeal and carbonless 

 carbon paper. We have described the procedure in 

 detail because of the ultimate purity and freedom 

 from unanticipated contaminants required of ex- 

 tracts for gas chromatography with an electron- 

 capture detector. Data from samples of typical 

 fishery products analyzed by us using the methods 

 described in this paper were comparable to the 

 data obtained by a number of other laboratories^ 

 following their usual procedures. 



Preliminar\ Information 



The accuracy and precision of analyses for 

 chlorinated hydrocarbons are assured only if care- 

 ful attention is given to the procedural details and 

 the time factors involved in the various steps. 



its metabolites act similarly to the more common p. p '-isomers 

 used here. 

 ^See Acknowledgments for the list of laboratories. 



880 



FISHERY BULLETLN: VOL. 76. NO 4, 1979. 



