compounds (e.g., AHs) (Varanasi and Gmur 1981) were generally below the 
limits of detection in the muscle and liver of English sole captured in 
areas with highly contaminated sediment. In this regard, new HPLC- 
fluorescence techniques developed in our laboratory by Krahn et al. 
(1985) allow measurement of concentrations of metabolites of aromatic 
canpounds in the bile. For example, in a study of English sole captured 
from 11 sites in Puget Sound (Krahn et al. 1986), high concentrations of 
metabolites which fluoresce at the BaP wavelength pair (380/430 nm) were 
found in bile of fish from Eagle Harbor (2,100 + 1,500 ng/g) and the 
Duwamish Waterway (1,400+ 2,200 ng/g), compared to bile of fish from 
reference sites where concentrations were at least 20 times less (Figure 
6). Our laboratory studies have also demonstrated that bottcm sediments 
serve as inportant sources of aromtic compounds for English sole. Vhen 
English sole were placed on sediment from the Duwamish River, a signi¬ 
ficant increase in the fluorescence at wavelengths appropriate for 
naphthalene, phenanthrene and BaP in bile was observed over a period of 
several weeks. VJiereas the fish placed on a reference sediment from 
near the Dosewallips River did not show any increase in bile fluorescence 
(Varanasi et al. 1985, Stein et al. 1987). These results indicate a 
continuous uptake of sediment-associated AHs in fish exposed to 
contaminated sediment. 
In another recently completed study we found that downstream migrant 
juveniles of certain Pacific salmon species are exposed to chemical 
contaminants as they pass through polluted urban estuaries (Malins et al. 
1987). For example, mean concentrations of PCBs in stomach contents and 
livers (Figure 1) of Oncorhynchus tshawytscha were three times higher 
than salmon from the Nisqually River, an estuary in a rural region of 
southern Puget Sound. The mean concentration of summed AHs in stomach 
contents of EXjwamish Waterway salmon was over 600 times higher than that 
for reference salmon (Figure 8A). The mean concentration of bile meta¬ 
bolites which fluoresce at the BaP wavelength pair were over 20 times 
higher in IXiwamish Waterway salmon canpared to Nisqually River salmon 
(Figure 8B). Vfe presently do not knew if exposure to these toxic 
chemicals canpremises the health of these young salnxjn. 
Pathological Conditions 
Hepatic neoplasms and other diseases, have been shown to occur in high 
prevalences in English sole and certain other bottom-dwelling fish living 
in waters adjacent to various urban (industrialized) areas in Puget Sound 
(Wbllings et al. 1976; Malins et al. 1984, Malins et al. 1985a,b). A 
limited number of studies have indicated that certain diseases are closely 
associated with the presence of elevated levels of such toxic chemicals 
as AHs and CHs in the sediments. The principal types of urban-associated 
diseases reported in these fish species have included a variety of hepatic 
lesions (e.g. neoplasms, "preneoplasms", hepatocellular degeneration/necro¬ 
sis) and fin erosion. 
Several of our investigations have detected hepatic neoplasms in bottan- 
fish species from Puget Sound (Malins et al. 1984, 1985a, 1985b; McCain 
et al. 1982) The highest prevalences of hepatic neoplasns were found in 
90 
