The first report of load and congener group profile of short-chain chlorinated paraffins (SCCPs) in mackerel icefish Champsocephalus gunnari and painted notie Nototheniops larseni at South Georgia, Antarctic during winter.

Short-chain chlorinated paraffins (SCCPs), as a class of emerging persistent organic pollutants, with the capabilities of persistence, bioaccumulation, and long-distance transmissibility, listed in the Stockholm Convention, have received widespread attention in recent years. The study on SCCPs in Antarctica biota, however, are extremely limited, especially during the winter. In this study, we therefore for the first time examined SCCPs in two fish species, mackerel icefish Champsocephalus gunnari and painted notie Nototheniops larseni, with different life-history patterns but of both ecological importance at South Georgia during austral winter. No significant difference was observed in the SCCPs concentrations measured by dry weight (dw), which were 280.73 ± 61.55 ng/g dw for C. gunnari and 280.06 ± 61.78 ng/g dw for N. larseni, while the SCCPs concentrations by lipid weight showed significant interspecific difference. The chain length of SCCPs was closely related to their concentrations in Antarctic biota, with an overall tendency of higher levels with shorter chain lengths. The C10 congeners of C. gunnari were significantly higher than the others.