How are mercury levels in fish measured?
The mercury can be sampled in any fish species, there’s a fairly easy test to do. The fish is broken up into little blocks and sent off to the lab where they can digest the fish. Mercury is not supposed to be in fish and it stands out as a unique element that’s very easy to test for. The levels are usually recorded in the parts million and one or two parts per million is a very high concentration. Even though it doesn’t sound like a lot, it’s a very high concentration of mercury in fish that can lead to bad effects on brain development.
