Scientist Study Mercury Content in Oceans

Scientists from Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute are focusing on new research in the oceans mercury content.  Mercury changes between gas, liquid and solid very easily and because of this it is a unique metal. The metal exists in various forms and one type of mercury found in fish is monomethylmercury. This type of mercury is found in fish in relatively high concentrations. Its health impact on humans is neurological causing a block in the neurological development of fetuses in pregnant women who eat large amounts of fish. The path from elemental mercury, a different form of mercury released from burning coal has made its way into the ocean and into the fish that we eat. One thing scientists have not been able to figure out is exactly how that elemental mercury changes into monomethylmercury. There has been minimal research into the measurement of monomethylmercury levels in the ocean, but the tests that have been done show highest levels occurring at mid-water depth where oxygen levels are lowest.

Some studies are currently investigating whether monomethylmercury released into the water from coastal sediments, then travels out into the ocean from coasts of continents.  In an effort to find where this form of mercury is coming from researchers are also studying the relationship between mercury and bacteria, and whether the mercury if made inside bacterial cells or in the water outside the cells.  In addition by studying how fast this form of mercury is made and destroyed scientists can determine how much is made on site and how much is moved throughout the ocean. Samples have been collected along low oxygen zones in the Pacific Ocean. Researchers are conducting a number of experiments in the hopes of finding the conditions that produce monomethylmercury.