Survey of persistent pesticide residues in the edible tissues of wild and pond-raised Louisiana crayfish and their habitat

The quantity of persistent pesticides in the edible tissues of wild and pond-grown crawfish in Louisiana was determined. Only DDD and DDE residues were detected in occasional tissue samples. DDD residue levels in the abdominal muscle were detected only in the early 1987 Vermillion Parish (VP) ponds and wild samples from St. Mary Parish and St. Martin Parish. DDE was confirmed in the abdominal muscle only from the early 1987 VP samples and in the hepatopancreas from the early 1986 St. Mary Parish and VP samples. Persistent organochlorine residues in the edible tissues of commercially important Louisiana crawfish were deemed low. The small amount of pesticides that may have entered the crawfish from ingestion of food and sediment would be readily detoxified by the mixed function oxidase system in hepatopancreatic tissue and green gland.