Roly poly bugs may be a source of fun for kids and adults but these little bugs that form into balls at the slightest touch are causing problems for some threatened fish.
Roly poly bugs may be a source of fun for kids and adults but these little bugs that form into balls at the slightest touch are causing problems for some threatened fish.
New research finds steelhead trout in a stream on the California coast accumulate mercury in their bodies when the fish eat roly polies and similar terrestrial bugs that fall into local waterways. The new study corroborates earlier findings that mercury can make its way to the top of the food chain in coastal California.
The results show for the first time that roly polies and other bugs are transferring high levels of the toxic metal to fish in an otherwise pristine watershed where environmental contaminants are not known to be a concern, according to the researchers.
“Our research is the first step in identifying [mercury] as a potential stressor on these populations,” said Dave Rundio, a research fishery biologist at NOAA’s Southwest Fisheries Science Center and co-leader of the study that will be presented 8 December at AGU’s Fall Meeting 2020.
Read more at American Geophysical Union
Photo Credit: daniellegiberti via Pixabay
