PFAS Occurrence and Bioaccumulation in Marine Organisms and Implications for Coral Reef-Associated Food Webs and Biomonitoring

Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) have been measured in diverse marine organisms, but differences among compounds, sample matrices, food webs, and analytical methods complicate interpretation of their environmental significance. This targeted, literature-based comparative review organized evidence from 29 distinct peer-reviewed primary studies published from 2011 to 2026 for which full-text articles were available. The studies covered marine and marine-associated coastal organisms; three directly investigated coral reef fishes or reef-building corals. Study characteristics and reported endpoints were coded separately for occurrence, bioaccumulation, trophic transfer, physiological associations, risk assessment, and biomonitoring relevance. All 29 studies reported measured biological PFAS, whereas 10 provided explicit accumulation-factor evidence and 11 investigated trophic transfer or predator–prey magnification. PFOS was prominent in numerous vertebrate and food-web investigations, but analyte profiles differed substantially: PFHxS accounted for 43% of measured PFAS in one reef-coral study, whereas trifluoroacetic acid was detected in all 54 coral samples in another. Compound-specific trophic patterns also differed among food webs; for example, reported PFOS trophic magnification factors included 1.75 in the Beibu Gulf and 0.78 in a Bohai Sea investigation. Differences in tissue, wet- versus dry-weight reporting, analyte coverage, and ecological context precluded quantitative pooling. Biological-effect evidence was more limited and should not be inferred from concentrations or dietary-risk estimates. The reviewed studies support taxon- and matrix-specific biomonitoring but do not yet establish how PFAS move through complete coral reef food webs. Standardized, co-located sampling of reef organisms, surrounding media, and biological endpoints would strengthen future interpretations.