Wednesday, November 11, 2026
Science

What seal pups can reveal about the effects of mercury exposure

Marine mammals living along the Pacific Coast of North America encounter more than the fish, crustaceans, cephalopods and other marine mammals that live around them. Because contaminants such as mercury can move through marine food webs and biomagnify—becoming more concentrated as they move from pre...

What seal pups can reveal about the effects of mercury exposure
Image: Phys.org
Marine mammals living along the Pacific Coast of North America encounter more than the fish, crustaceans, cephalopods and other marine mammals that live around them. Because contaminants such as mercury can move through marine food webs and biomagnify—becoming more concentrated as they move from prey to predator—fish-eating marine mammals can be exposed to higher levels of these pollutants.

Originally published at Phys.org

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