Mercury and selenium in marine mammals and birds

Information is provided concerning the concentrations of mercury and selenium in tissues of marine animals. In marine mammals a 1:1 Hg/Se molecular increment ratio was found and an almost perfect linear correlation between mercury and selenium. It is suggested that marine mammals are able to detoxify methylmercury by a specific chemical mechanism in which selenium is involved. The results also indicate that the fate of methylmercury in fish-eating marine birds differs fundamentally from that in marine mammals.