Pollution and benthic fish
Heavy metals
Methylmercury can biomagnify to high values in large carnivorous fish. These fish are also more active, causing them to need more oxygen. To extract more oxygen, they have to pump more water through their gills, causing them also to adsorb more contaminants. Unlike marine mammals and (possibly) sea birds, fish can't demethylate methylmercury, nor can they excrete it efficiently. Therefore old carnivorous fish often contain very large amounts of methylmercury, making them unfit for human consumption.[1]
Organochlorine compounds
Chronic PCB contamination might affect the breading success of benthic fishes. The starry flounder population in the San Fransisco Bay displayed reduced breading success in the 1980's. Although the San Francisco bay had a relatively low PCB content, the eggs of the flounders displayed elevated PCB levels. The breading success of species in Europe might also have been affected by relatively low levels of PCBs. [2]
Benthic fish have been shown to be vulnerable to high concentrations of PAHs [3]
PFOS contamination in bib and plaice in the Western Scheldt
