Synthetic musk compounds are extensively used in personal care and cosmetic products all over the world. Afterwards, they are discharged into the environment mainly because they are not completely removed in wastewater treatment plants. The aim of this study was to investigate if a passive sampler is applicable for the monitoring of tonalide, a polycyclic musk compound, in the aquatic environment and to compare the levels of tonalide in pesticide-polar organic chemical integrative sampler (POCIS) and biota. For this purpose, four sampling localities on the three biggest rivers in the Czech Republic were selected. Tonalide was determined in POCIS at all sampling sites in the concentration ranging from 9 ng/POCIS (Labe River, Hradec Králové) to 25 ng/POCIS (Morava River, Blatec). The locality with the most frequent occurrence of tonalide in biota samples was the Morava River which well corresponded with the highest tonalide concentration in POCIS among sampling sites. The highest number of positive tonalide detections among all studied biota samples was found in fish plasma. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first evidence that tonalide bioaccumulates in fish blood. Tonalide levels were below the limit of quantification in benthos samples at all sampling sites.
Keywords: Benthos; Bioaccumulation; Fish; Musk; Mussel; POCIS; Plasma.