WASHINGTON - Marine scientists in U.S. say that they've found manmade chemical pollutants in deep sea squids and octopods, evidence of contamination in the deep ocean food web. Michael Vecchione from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and his colleagues Ellen Harvey, Michael Unger and George Vadas from the Virginia Institute of Marine Science said the chemical contaminants were found in 9 species of cephalopods; a class of organisms which includes octopods, squids, nautiluses and cuttlefishesss.

"It was surprising to find measurable and sometimes high amounts of toxic pollutants in such a deep and remote environment," Vecchione said. Among the chemicals detected were tributyltin; polychlorinated biphenyls, or PCBs; brominated diphenyl ethers; and DDT - dichlorodiphenyl-trichloroethane. The contaminants are known as Persistent Organic Pollutants (POP) because they don't degrade and continue to persist in the environment for a very long time.

Cephalopods are vital to the diet of cetaceans, including dolphins, whales and porpoises. Although there have been reports of accumulation of POPs in the blubber and tissues of whales and other predatory marine mammals and some deep-sea fish, the researchers said their study is the first to focus on deep-sea cephalopods