Which of the following pollutant is a powerful neurotoxin and can biomagnify in aquatic food chains ?
Mercury (Hg)
Biomagnification is the rise in concentration of a persistent pollutant at each higher level of a food chain. It happens when a substance is not broken down easily, is stored in body tissues and is passed on when one organism eats another. A neurotoxin is a substance that damages the nervous system.
Mercury released from coal burning, mining and industry settles in water bodies, where microbes convert it into methylmercury. This form is absorbed by plankton and builds up in small fish and then in large predatory fish such as tuna and swordfish. Methylmercury is a powerful neurotoxin, and the Minamata disease of Japan showed its severe effects on the human brain and nervous system.
Ozone is a reactive gas that harms the lungs and plants but does not accumulate along aquatic food chains. Methane is a greenhouse gas with no biomagnification in food webs. DDT does biomagnify, but it is mainly known as an endocrine disruptor that thins bird eggshells, not as the classic potent neurotoxin. The pollutant fitting both features best is mercury.
Hence, Mercury (Hg).
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