To date, the presence of pharmaceuticals has been extensively documented across a wide range of aquatic systems and biota. Further, substantial progress has been made in transitioning from laboratory assessments of pharmaceutical fate and effects in fish to in situ assessments of exposure and effects; however, certain research areas remain understudied. Among these is investigation of differential accumulation across multiple internal tissues in wild marine fish beyond the species commonly sampled in laboratory and freshwater field settings. This study examined the presence of pharmaceuticals across four tissues (plasma, muscle, brain, and liver) in a wild marine fish, bonefish (Albula vulpes), throughout coastal South Florida, USA. Differential accumulation across tissues was assessed for the number and concentration, identity, and composition of accumulated pharmaceuticals by sampling 25 bonefish and analyzing them for 91 pharmaceuticals. The concentration of pharmaceuticals was highest in plasma > liver > brain > muscle, while the number of pharmaceuticals was highest in liver > brain > plasma > muscle. The identity of detected pharmaceuticals was tissue specific, and there was an inverse relationship between the number of detections for each pharmaceutical and its log Kow. The composition of pharmaceuticals was tissue specific for both pharmaceutical presence/absence and concentration. Across all tissues, the greatest similarity was between brain and liver, which were more similar to plasma than to muscle, and muscle was the most distinct tissue. For tissue compositional variability, muscle was the most diverse in accumulated pharmaceuticals, while plasma, brain, and liver were similarly variable. With the highest concentrations in plasma and highest number in liver, and documented variability in accumulated pharmaceuticals across tissues, our results highlight the importance of tissue selection when surveying exposure in wild fish, suggesting that multi-tissue analysis would allow for a more comprehensive assessment of exposure diversity and risk of adverse effects.

Bonefish and Tarpon Trust Miami FL USA

Bonefish and Tarpon Trust Miami FL USA; Florida Atlantic University Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute Fort Pierce FL USA

Department of Biology Florida International University Miami FL USA

Department of Chemistry Umeå University Umeå Sweden

Department of Marine Science Coastal Carolina University Conway SC USA

Department of Wildlife Fish and Environmental Studies Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences Umeå Sweden

Department of Wildlife Fish and Environmental Studies Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences Umeå Sweden; Faculty of Fisheries and Protection of Waters South Bohemian Research Center of Aquaculture and Biodiversity of Hydrocenoses University of South Bohemia in Ceske Budejovice Vodňany Czech Republic

Earth and Environment Department Florida International University Miami FL USA

Earth and Environment Department Florida International University Miami FL USA; Department of Biology Florida International University Miami FL USA

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