Arsenic speciation in sea scallop gonads

The arsenic species in male and female sea scallop gonads (Placopecten magellanicus) at pre-spawning and post-spawning stages, collected near Newfoundland, Canada, were characterized by using high-performance liquid chromatography-inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry, All samples contain arsenobetaine (0.5-3.0 mug g(-1)) and a dimethylarsinoylriboside derivative as the major water-soluble arsenic compounds. Male pre-spawning gonads contain 0.35-2.4 mug g(-1) of the dimethylarsinoylriboside, Female pre-spawning gonads contain 0.47-9.64 mug g(-1) of the same compound. Postspawning gonads, both male and female, contain higher concentrations of this compound (3.7-11.4 mug g(-1)). The total concentrations of water-soluble arsenic compounds are different in male and female pre-spawning gonads. These differences are not obvious in post-spawning gonads. Post-spawning gonads contain higher total concentrations of water-soluble arsenic compounds than pre-spawning gonads. Copyright (C) 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.