Fate of Ultraviolet Absorbents in a Marine Ecosystem: Bioaccumulation, Tissue-Specific Distribution, and Trophic Transfer in the Yellow Sea

The 2023 listing of UV-328 as a persistent organic pollutant (POP) has created an urgent need to understand the environmental fate of ultraviolet absorbents (UVAs) in marine ecosystems, yet data on their trophic transfer and tissue-specific distribution in marine biomes remain critically scarce. This study investigated the bioaccumulation and trophodynamics of 11 UVAs in a comprehensive marine food web (seawater, sediment, and 25 species) from the Yellow Sea. The results showed that widespread contamination of the new POP UV-328 was confirmed, with detection frequency >81%, establishing a critical baseline for effectiveness evaluation of the global convention. Unlike classical lipophilic pollutants that predominantly sequester in the liver, UV-328 and UV-329 exhibited significantly higher burdens in fish kidneys, suggesting a specific, previously overlooked renal affinity mechanism likely driven by transporter-mediated uptake or specific protein binding. Despite similar hydrophobicity, octyl dimethyl-<i>p</i>-aminobenzoate exhibited significant biodilution, whereas benzophenone and 2-ethylhexyl salicylate biomagnified, highlighting the dominant role of metabolic biotransformation over lipophilicity in determining food web fate. While the probabilistic risk assessment from seafood consumption was generally negligible, children was identified as a susceptible subpopulation requiring prioritized protection. These findings challenge the conventional liver-centric view of hydrophobic contaminant accumulation and underscore the necessity of incorporating renal toxicity end points into future ecological risk assessments for industrial UV stabilizers.