Marine mercury in mountain lakes? Mercury is a shiny, silvery liquid metal , sometimes called quicksilver, is liquid at standard temperature and pressure, is very rare, and finds use in many different things like fluorescent lamps, thermometer, float valves, dental amalgams, in medicine, for the production of other chemicals, and to make liquid mirrors. It is highly volatile and can naturally be found in low concentrations in the environment. Mercury (Hg) is an internationally prioritized contaminant and a potent cardiovascular- and neurotoxic compound which in its organic form methylmercury (MeHg) is highly prone to both bioaccumulation and biomagnification.
P³ colleague Gael Le Roux recently published his work on Mercury in the scientific journal Scientific Reports. The work specifies that introduction of farmed brown trout (Salmo trutta fario) to mountain lakes act as source of mercury. The use of pellets in fish farms fed to trouts then introduces marine mercury into the system and can be detected in adult fish even 5 years after introduction to natural freshwater ecosystems. Stocking of farmed fish into freshwater ecosystems in mountains therefore act as a humanly induced biovector, potentially transporting up to 1 ton of marine MeHg per year to continental areas. As there are usually no fish in high mountain lakes a call for fish free mountain lakes is further reinforced by the findings of this study.
