Accumulation and Retention of Dietary 14 C-DDT by Atlantic Menhaden

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Abstract
The accumulation and retention of dietary 14C‐DDT by young‐of‐the‐year menhaden, and the effect of 14C‐DDT exposure on growth of menhaden were studied. A simple mathematical model was developed to predict DDT flux in a natural menhaden population. Uptake of 14C‐DDT was dose dependent and a function of exposure time. Prediction equations summarize the 14C‐DDT uptake by menhaden for each of three exposure levels. Menhaden assimilated and retained 17 to 27 percent of the cumulative dosages of 14C‐DDT. The biological half‐life of 14C‐DDT in menhaden was estimated to be 428, 64, and 137 days, respectively, for the low (0.58 ppb), medium (9.0 ppb), and high (93 ppb) dose groups. Exposure to dietary 14C‐DDT at these concentrations did not produce any effect on growth of menhaden nor did starvation significantly affect their retention of 14C‐DDT. The linear DDT flux model for menhaden was: FDta = (γ + λ) (Dm), where F is the daily feeding rate, Df is the DDT concentration in the food, a is the fraction of the ingested DDT that is assimilated, γ is the daily fractional DDT accumulation rate, λ is the daily fractional DDT turnover rate, and Dm is the DDT concentration in menhaden. The model was tested with the experimental data and also used as a basis for comparison of the experimental data with previous field observations.

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