  We study the quark mass dependence of $J^P = \frac12^-$ s-wave baryon
resonances. Parameter free results are obtained in terms of the leading order
chiral Lagrangian. In the 'heavy' SU(3) limit with $m_\pi =m_K \simeq $ 500 MeV
the resonances turn into bound states forming two octets plus a singlet
representations of the SU(3) group. A contrasted result is obtained in the
'light' SU(3) limit with $m_\pi =m_K \simeq $ 140 MeV for which no resonances
exist. Using physical quark masses our analysis suggests to assign to the
$S=-2$ resonances $\Xi(1690)$ and $\Xi(1620)$ the quantum numbers $J^P=1/2^-$.
