CHINESE MITTEN CRABS IN EUROPEAN RIVERS: CONTAMINATION WITH DIOXINS, PCBs, PBBs AND PBDEs AND IMPLICATIONS FOR HUMAN CONSUMPTION

摘要

The Chinese mitten crab Eriocheir sinensis is one of only two brachyuran crabs to be placed on the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources' list of the World's worst 100 invasive alien species. It has been reported from North-Eastern European rivers and the San Francisco Bay, but recently E. sinensis has been recorded from Iran, Iraq and the Volga River catchment, Russia. The mitten crab population in the River Thames, London has increased dramatically since the late 1980s and there are concerns that it has the potential to cause considerable ecological and structural environmental damage. Commercial exploitation for culinary purposes offers a potential population control mechanism because the ovaries and testis of sexually maturing crabs are highly prized in some restaurants. We have previously reported concentrations of PCDD/Fs and PCBs in Thames and Dutch mitten crabs. Here we report the concentrations of PBDEs in the same samples to add to the overall picture of human exposure to environmental contaminants associated with eating these crabs. Whilst PCDD/F concentrations were higher in the Dutch crabs, PBDE concentrations were higher in those caught in the Thames, with values ranging from 125-378 ng/g whole weight compared with 38-96 ng/g whole weight for the Dutch crabs. These new data are in line with the previous conclusion that it is a possibility that the harvesting of these crabs for consumption may be a valid option to use for controlling this invasive species, provided that excessive consumption of the brown meat is avoided.