As the mercury will eventually harm human, how, and what can we do to fix or reduce this?
Mercury bioaccumulation
Mercury does exist in fish in from a very stable organometallic compound. The absorption rate thereof is greater than the output speed of the fish which suggests that the concentration increases in fish. As a result it enters the food chain .
Methylmercury cation of formula CH3Hg +, is one of organic forms of mercury. This molecule is extremely stable and very little biodegradable: it enters the food chain and will accumulate in living organisms. This explains the phenomenon of bioaccumulation in life, at every link in the food chain. secondly biomagnification observed (or biomagnification) throughout the food chain: higher trophic levels contain much more MeHg that primary producers
Biological conversion and uptake by organisms (MeHg, methylmercury)
In the environment, mercury is transformed into methylmercury through the methylation process.
Transformation of mercury into methylmercury:
The methylation in the environment can accumulate mercury released into the water where microorganisms (usually sulfate-reducing bacteria) can help turn it into methylmercury, by adding a methyl group (CH3) in the elements of the reagent or oxidized mercury (Hg2+).
Methylmercury is a highly toxic form of mercury that is bioaccumulative
Mercury origin in fresh water, seas and oceans
- Telluric and anthropogenic emissions.
Atmospheric mercury (Hg °) comes from natural and continuous degassing of the earth's crust and volcanic eruptions (2700-6000 t / year) and human activities (about 4,000 tons of mercury per year, mainly from the combustion of fuels fossils, waste incineration, landfills ...).
- From the ocean to the plate.
Once in the water, some of the mercury attaches to suspended particles and settles to the bottom, where it is converted into cation methylmercury (MeHg) by sulfate-reducing bacteria, preferably in oxygen poor environments.
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- Biological Science
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