MERCURY CONCENTRATIONS IN BENTHIC ANIMALS AND PLANTS INHABITING THE GULF OF GDANSK, BALTIC SEA

Mercury concentrations were investigated on field collections of benth ic animals (Gammarus sp., Macoma baltica, Mytilus edulis, Balanus impr ovisosus, Crangon crangon and Mesidothea entomon) and plants (Enteromo rpha sp., Zostera marina, Pyloiella litoralis, Potamogeton pectinatus, Ruppia maritima, Cladophora rupestris, Ulva lactica and Elodea canade nsis) taken in the western part of the Gulf of Gdansk and the adjacent waters in 1988-1989. The method of measurement was cold vapour flamel ess atomic absorption spectrometry. Some inter-species and spatial dif ferences in mercury concentrations of zoobenthos could be observed, in dicating both pollution from local land based nonpoint sources and hig her accumulation in sedimentation areas. However, the mercury concentr ations noted were relatively low and within the lowest values observed by other authors for the same species in other than the Gulf of Gdans k regions of the Baltic Sea.