|
|
The methylmercury mixed in the factory discharged water and flown into the sea was absorbed by plankton and got into the bodies of small fish eating the plankton. Smaller fish passed it on to larger fish, finally ending up in people who ate these fish.
Larger creatures eat more food, and hence more methylmercury is accumulated in the bodies of larger creatures which become polluted with harmful substances. Such a phenomenon, in which a substance is concentrated while passing between creatures, significantly affecting the creatures upstream in the food chain, is known as biological concentration.
|
