Mercury levels in total suspended matter and in plankton of the Mediterranean basin.

Mercury levels in total suspended matter (TSM) and in plankton of sea water from some Mediterranean areas have been determined. The mercury concentration in TSM collected with a filter of 0.45 micron pore size ranges from 0.1 to 2.4 ng l-1 and from 0.1 to 4.7 ng mg-1, dry wt. These levels are 3-10 times higher than those observed in plankton (0.08-0.29 ng mg-1 dry wt.) collected with a 200 microns net mesh size. The larger amounts of mercury in TSM than in the matter collected by the plankton nets are probably due to the high abundance of smaller sized particles selected by the filter.