Multimedia distribution and ecological risk of bisphenol analogues in the urban rivers and their bioaccumulation in wild fish with different dietary habits

Bisphenol analogues (BPs) have been widely used in industrial production, and caused harmful effects on biological reproduction and development. The occurrence characteristics of six BPs in multi-matrices, including truly dissolved phase, colloids, suspended particulate matter (SPM), sediment and fish samples from urban river were investigated. Bisphenol A (BPA) and bisphenol S (BPS) were the mostly detected in six BPs in the Yangtze River (Nanjing section). The total average concentration of BPs was 393.8 ng/L in truly dissolved phase, 57.4 ng/L in colloids, 255.2 ng/g in SPM and 34.5 ng/g in sediment. The adsorption capacity of SPM and sediment to BPs were weaker than that of colloids. For the spatial variation, the concentrations of BPs in the surface water of the downstream of urban rivers were 1.3–1.6 times higher than that of the upstream, and the BPs concentrations in the sediments downstream of the sewage treatment plant were significantly higher than that in other sites. In wild fish, muscle has a high accumulative potential for BPs, followed by brain and liver tissues, and BPA was the dominant BPs in brain tissues. Furthermore, BPs concentration in muscle of wild fish with different feeding habits was in the following order: filter-feeding fish > omnivorous fish > herbivorous fish, and which was significantly positively correlated with BPs concentration in traditionally dissolved phase and colloidal phase. Meanwhile, BPs concentration in benthic herbivorous fish might be also controlled by the BPs adsorbed in the sediment. Ecological risk assessment was conducted and demonstrated that BPs might pose a moderate risk to fish, a low risk to algae and daphnias. The detected BPs does not pose a health risk to human trough drinking water and eating fish alone.