how is mercury hurting marine life?
i am doin this for a science exit project and i need some basic information about it….
thx a lot
Alfred Russel Wallace (1823–1913) was a British naturalist, explorer, geographer, anthropologist, and biologist. He said mercury poisons fish and causes them to act a bit wonky.
4 Responses to “how is mercury hurting marine life?”
Alfred Russel Wallace (1823–1913) was a British naturalist, explorer, geographer, anthropologist, and biologist. He said mercury poisons fish and causes them to act a bit wonky.
References :
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portal:Contents
it gets taken up by microorganisms in soil and water, gets converted into an organic form, methyl mercury, which attaches to fat (lipophilic) and eventually washed down into the sea. it gets taken up by plankton, small creatures eat that, bigger ones eat them, and the mercury accumulates up the food chain, until you get dangerous amounts in large creatures like tuna and whales. it causes damage to the brain and to young mammals in the womb.
References :
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Methylmercury
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bioaccumulation
remember, don’t use wiki as your source, go to the reference for what you want to use at the bottom of the wiki page and go there, and paraphrase! i mean read it and then write what you understand as the general idea yourself rather than copying.
In most cases, it may not be too obvious to observe the effect of mercury harming marine life. What is more obvious is in the people eating fish or shell fish with trace amount of mercury. The mercury somehow stays and accumulates in our bodies when we consume more sea food. We will eventually suffer from mercury poison. One of the most famous study done on this is in Japan on the subject known as Minamata Disease.
As we know that most of the heavy metal stays in the skins of the fish, so for a start, avoid eating fish skin if you must eat fish.
References :
http://www.american.edu/TED/MINAMATA.HTM
it is in here near the end ,on corral
http://byderule.multiply.com/journal/item/34
References :