Abstract
The lead, cadmium and mercury content of soft tissues and bone were determined for the common seal ( Phoca vitulina) collected from off the coast of East Anglia and the West of Scotland. Lead levels were low in all tissues, cadmium accumulated with age in the kidney of West Scotland seals and mercury accumulated to high levels in the liver of seals from both areas. Comparison of our results with those of other workers, suggests that the rate of mercury accumulation in the liver of seals increases in the order: Canadian Arctic and Atlantic coast < West Scotland < East Anglia < Netherlands coast. Accumulation of mercury in the kidney and spleen of older seals, lends tentative support to the hypothesis that a protective demethylation and retention process in the liver may begin to leak mercury to other tissues at the high concentrations which have been recorded in the liver of older seals, and at the high dose rates which have been used in toxicological experiments.
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